The Tennessee Titans waived quarterback Will Levis on Sunday as part of final roster cuts. The move ends a tenure that never reached the starting-stakes level some expected.
Cincinnati Bengals legend Chad Johnson had already called it. Levis, Johnson said, will not have the opportunity to be a starter. That was a blunt take before the waiver. The transaction makes it official.
What's left for Levis is the waiver wire. If no team claims him, he'll be a free agent. The Titans decided he wasn't worth a roster spot even as a backup, which tells you how they viewed his trajectory.
There's a market for former starting quarterbacks with starting talent but not the consistency to keep a job. Levis's next stop will likely be a depth chart somewhere, not a huddle in Week 1. Johnson's read — that Levis won't get a real chance to lead an offense — is probably the accurate one. Teams that want a developmental quarterback usually keep them around. Teams that waive them are usually right.
The Titans have moved on. The rest of the league will get its shot. The bet here is Levis lands on a practice squad, put there to run someone else's scout team rather than their offense. The window for him as a starter closed in Tennessee, and it's hard to see it reopening elsewhere.