Getty Image / Kevin Sabitus
Throughout the last 20 years of the NFL Draft, the scenes of highly-touted quarterbacks waiting in the green room backstage for much longer than they thought they would has stuck with all NFL fans.
Aaron Rodgers, Brady Quinn, and Lamar Jackson are the main ones that come to mind, as all three had to wait longer than pick 20 to get selected when many thought they could go in the top ten. And, in Thursday night’s 2023 NFL Draft, the victim of this trend was Kentucky quarterback Will Levis.
Will Levis started his career at Penn State, where he was repeatedly beaten out by Rose Bowl Champion Sean Clifford. Prior to the 2021 season, the Connecticut native transferred to play for Mark Stoops and Kentucky.
From then on, his raw physical gifts were on display. The 6-foot-4-inch 230lb tank of a quarterback showed a rocket arm as good as anyone in the NFL with excellent mobility. And, the Wildcats offense had a lot of pro-style concepts, making him attractive to NFL teams. He was slightly worse in 2022, but his offensive line was worse, and he was pretty dinged up during the year.
Up until the draft, and even during it, many thought Will Levis would come off the board in the top ten. But, only three teams took quarterbacks in the first round, and they were all in the first four picks. The Carolina Panthers selected Bryce Young, the Houston Texans selected CJ Stroud, and the Indianapolis Colts selected Anthony Richardson.
Some other teams were thought to be considering taking a quarterback, but ultimately none pulled the trigger, and Will Levis and his family kept being shown on television like this.
Brutal and unfair, man. Will Levis simply doesn’t deserve this. The comeback story is gonna go crazy. 😞😔 #BBN pic.twitter.com/3iLSxnLRgq
— Buddy 🏀😼 (@BigBlueBud) April 28, 2023
And, it hearkened back to comments he made before his Pro Day.
Will Levis was asked before Kentucky's Pro Day if he was going to the draft in person:
"I’m looking forward to going, but I don’t want to go if I could be like a second-round pick. Don’t want to have the camera just on you all day.”
— Jon Hale (@JonHale_HL) April 28, 2023
Thankfully for Will Levis, his wait shouldn’t be too long on Friday night when the 2nd and 3rd rounds get underway.