{"id":774188,"date":"2026-02-24T22:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774188\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:19:23","slug":"robert-salehs-plan-for-will-levis-after-lost-titans-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774188\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Saleh&#8217;s plan for Will Levis after lost Titan&#8217;s season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Salah isn\u2019t writing off Will Levis just yet.<\/p>\n<p>The first-year Titans head coach spoke to reporters at Tuesday\u2019s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, where he touched briefly on what he\u2019s looking for in a backup quarterback behind Cam Ward.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, he was asked for his early impression of Levis, the 2023 second-round pick and former Tennessee starter, who\u2019s coming off a lost season due to shoulder surgery.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38591034\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/head-coach-robert-saleh-tennessee-122119031.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Saleh Scouting Combine titans head coach\" class=\"wp-image-38591034\"  \/>Newly hired Titans head coach Robert Saleh spoke to reporters at Tuesday\u2019s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Saleh, 47, recalled his lone previous encounter with Levis \u2014 him throwing for 192 yards, one touchdown, and an interception against Saleh\u2019s New York Jets in 2024 \u2014 and expressed his excitement in having him on the roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think he\u2019s got tremendous talent, tremendous size, and tremendous arm strength. I\u2019m looking forward to [having him on our team].\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Robert Saleh said he met with Will Levis recently and told him to have the best offseason of his life. Saleh said Levis is really talented and looks forward to having him be part of the team. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fiFrGmo0OG\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/fiFrGmo0OG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TDavenport_NFL\/status\/2026363649770537134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Levis, 26, started 21 games for the Titans across 2023 and 2024, but he was quickly mired in trade speculation after the team secured the first overall pick and drafted Ward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he stayed put; shortly after the draft, Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/44905707\/titans-try-trade-levis-cite-qb-value-competition\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dispelled trade rumors<\/a> by emphasizing the importance of \u201ccompetition\u201d in a quarterback room, something Levis certainly provides.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That competition ended prematurely when Levis opted to undergo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/45787046\/titans-qb-levis-season-ending-shoulder-surgery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">season-ending surgery<\/a> last July, which fast-tracked Ward\u2019s rise atop the depth chart.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38591047\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/throws-pass-getting-hit-atlanta-68802394.jpg\" alt=\"Will Levis Tennessee Titans\" class=\"wp-image-38591047\"  \/>Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis in 2023. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con<\/p>\n<p>One year later, his role even murkier than before, Levis had a \u201creally good\u201d conversation with his new head coach that helped reframe the uncertainty into an opportunity for redemption.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAttack this offseason,\u201d Saleh told reporters, echoing what he said to Levis. \u201cHave the best offseason of your life and compete your butt off, and let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to him being part of this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Titans hired Saleh, the former Jets coach who returned to the 49ers as a defensive coordinator in 2025, following Tennessee\u2019s second consecutive 3\u201314 campaign \u2014 which saw <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/13\/sports\/titans-fire-brian-callahan-in-first-nfl-axing-of-2025-season\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">head coach Brian Callahan fired<\/a> just six games into the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Salah isn\u2019t writing off Will Levis just yet. The first-year Titans head coach spoke to reporters at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2061],"tags":[127,7,6,927,6043,9,526,394,2411,527,1246],"class_list":{"0":"post-774188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-cam-ward","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-combine","12":"tag-robert-saleh","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennessee","15":"tag-tennessee-titans","16":"tag-tennesseetitans","17":"tag-titans","18":"tag-will-levis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116127937585953167","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}