{"id":150022,"date":"2023-10-19T12:30:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T16:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=150022"},"modified":"2023-10-19T06:45:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T10:45:21","slug":"ryan-tannehill-injury-malik-willis-will-levis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/10\/19\/ryan-tannehill-injury-malik-willis-will-levis\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Titans Turning to Young Guys After Ryan Tannehill Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Titans quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/TannRy00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Tannehill<\/a> left Sunday\u2019s game against the Ravens in London early with an ankle injury. Testing when the team returned to the US revealed the veteran suffered a high ankle sprain, meaning he\u2019s almost certain to miss some time. With Tannehill out, who will the Titans turn to at quarterback?<\/p>\n<h2>Tennessee Titans Turning to Young Guys After Ryan Tannehill Injury<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What&#39;s next for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Titans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Titans<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 at QB? All things being considered as Ryan Tannehill begins recovery process.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It will be one of those two guys (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/malikwillis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@malikwillis<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/will_levis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@will_levis<\/a>) if Ryan can&#39;t go. I don&#39;t know who that would be yet.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>READ <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y8NDXtOrEb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/y8NDXtOrEb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ftj5z5MqEQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ftj5z5MqEQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jwyattsports\/status\/1714258772317585653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Willis\u2019s Surprise Appearance<\/h3>\n<p>As Tannehill exited Sunday morning\u2019s contest, Mike Vrabel had no choice but to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/05\/12\/malik-willis-landing-spots\/\" target=\"_self\">turn to Malik Willis<\/a>, as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/03\/will-levis-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">rookie Will Levis<\/a> was the team\u2019s emergency quarterback. Willis came in and played well enough, completing four of his five passes for 74 yards and running three times for 17 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his decent numbers, Willis was sacked four times for 30 yards down the stretch, burying the Titans\u2019 hopes for a comeback. The young quarterback was also unable to score from the one-yard line, staying in bounds while trying to reach the endzone, costing the Titans precious time. All in all, Willis was ok, but Vrabel will certainly have a decision on his hands about which young quarterback gives the team the best chance to win with Tannehill sidelined.<\/p>\n<h3>Status of the Ryan Tannehill Injury<\/h3>\n<p>Vrabel has said that if Tannehill is healthy, he\u2019ll be the starter, but that looks to be highly unlikely. Although reports say Tannehill will not require surgery, it\u2019s the same ankle he dealt with last season, meaning his recovery process may be tedious.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, he missed two games early with the ankle before returning to reinjure it in Week 15 against the Chargers, ending his season on injured reserve. Despite Tennessee\u2019s bye week following their trip to London, Tannehill will still need some time off. A high ankle sprain is one that could require several weeks or even months.<\/p>\n<h3>Tennessee\u2019s Options<\/h3>\n<p>Willis has won the backup job to this point, giving him the chance to come in on Sunday morning. However, Will Levis is also on the bench after missing most of the preseason with injury. Willis and Levis will now be in competition for starting reps for two weeks as the Titans\u2019 next game isn\u2019t until they host the Falcons on October 29th.<\/p>\n<p>While Willis may be more familiar with the offense, Levis definitely has a case for the starting job. Levis stands at 6-foot-4, 229 pounds while WIllis is 6-foot-1, 218 pounds. The two quarterbacks both possess more mobility than Tannehill, but that\u2019s not saying much these days as the 35-year-old hangs in the pocket as long as possible.<\/p>\n<p>This seems to be where these two differ. As Willis has shown last season, this preseason and on Sunday, he often starts scrambling and tries to run when he sees his first read is unavailable. Levis, on the other hand, seems much more comfortable in the pocket, shifting and avoiding a pass rush while going through his progressions, running only as a last resort.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For better or worse, the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Titans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Titans<\/a> have to see what they\u2019ve got in Will Levis when they come back from the bye. It\u2019s the right time to do it with two weeks to prepare and Tannehill is banged up anyway. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/I2viUg2JDe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/I2viUg2JDe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mike Herndon (@MikeHerndonSk1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeHerndonSk1\/status\/1713599212426829923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 15, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Vrabel\u2019s Decision<\/h3>\n<p>The Titans, now 2-4 on the year, can end up going in two directions with this injury. The new starter could give the team a shot in the arm, igniting this stagnant offense and earning the job while making a push toward the playoffs. Or they could learn that neither of their quarterbacks of the future are fit for the job as they long for Tannehill to return. Tannehill\u2019s injury certainly gives Tennessee a chance to see what they\u2019ve got in the quarterback room.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Peter van der Berg &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee Titans&#8217; quarterback Ryan Tannehill suffered an injury Sunday, what will the Titans do to fill the position?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4610,"featured_media":150207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[8559,814,7700,9692],"class_list":["post-150022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-titans","tag-malik-willis","tag-ryan-tannehill","tag-tennessee-titans-news","tag-will-levis"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}