Titans' Vrabel Yet to Decide on Will Levis or Malik Willis as Ryan Tannehill's Backup

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel remains undecided about whether Malik Willis or Will Levis will be the backup quarterback behind Ryan Tannehill to open the 2023 NFL season.

"A lot of it is based on the game plan, about how we feel can step in there and help us," he told reporters Monday. "Will's been out a little bit, excited to get him back this week and continue with Malik's maturity. We'll kind of see where it goes at the end of the week."

QB battles typically center around who will be the starter. Tennessee was an exception with Tannehill widely expected to run the offense in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints. But there was still plenty of room for intrigue when it came to his understudy

Vrabel told reporters in April that Tannehill, Willis and Levis in that order would be the quarterback hierarchy when the offseason got into full swing. Still, it felt safe to assume Levis had the inside track on Willis.

Fans got an early look at Willis as QB1 in 2022, and the results weren't encouraging. Across eight appearances, he threw for 276 yards and three interceptions. He failed to eclipse 100 yards through the air in any of his three starts.

That the Titans turned around and traded up to select Levis in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft seemed to indicate where they viewed Willis in the long term.

If Tennessee was tipping the scales in Levis' favor in any way, then he failed to fully capitalize. The longer training camp went on, the less there was any certainty about how this would end.

An injury to Levis prior to the team's second preseason presented an unexpected curveball. It allowed Willis to play the entirety of a 24-16 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, though his final numbers (10-of-17 for 85 yards, one touchdown and one interception) didn't jump off the page.

His production was much better the following week in a 23-7 victory over the New England Patriots as he threw for 211 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Whatever the outcome to the backup situation, fans are nonetheless unlikely to feel any more confident about the succession plan post-Tannehill than they had been at the start of the offseason.

The NFL's new roster rules had lowered the stakes somewhat, too.

Teams are permitted to have an emergency quarterback on the game-day squad without it counting against the active roster slots. That provided the Titans more flexibility to keep both Levis and Willis without having to sacrifice much elsewhere.

Under the old roster rules, they might have been forced to choose one over the other.

Based on the offseason signing of DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee is firmly focused on chasing one more playoff appearance with Tannehill and Derrick Henry on the roster. It will be interesting to see if a slow start leads the organization to change its priorities.

Should the postseason become a pipe dream with plenty of time left, benching Tannehill to get Levis or Willis some experience may not be a bad idea.