Ryan Tannehill made sure that his words couldn't be misconstrued this time around. A year after getting grilled after saying it's not necessarily it's his job to mentor Malik Willis, Tannehill offered a more polished yet still transparent response when asked about the latest quarterback the Tennessee Titans have drafted.
The Titans' starting quarterback since the 2019 season, Tannehill has seen his team draft a quarterback on Day 2 of the draft each of the last two years. A year after drafting Willis in the third round, the Titans traded up to select Levis with the 33rd overall pick.
"We've been down this road before, so it's definitely a little bit of déjà vu," Tannehill said. "But like I said … my job is to go out and try to win football games."
Tannehill, who has been a regular at the Titans' facility this offseason, said that the team's selection of Levis won't impact his approach to this season.
"As player, you could only control what you can control," he said. "That's doing the best you can prepping yourself physical and mentally every day to win football games."
Tannehill was diplomatic when asked about Levis, who was snatched up by Tennessee at the start of the second round after his surprising fall out of the first round. After starting his college career at Penn State, Levis played the last two falls at Kentucky, where he threw 43 touchdowns and 23 interceptions over that span.
"Hopefully he adds to the room," Tannehill said. "Obviously a talented guy. Coming off a great college career. We'll see when I get to meet him here in a few weeks."
Despite the addition of Levis, Titans coach Mike Vrabel said that Tannehill is the team's starting quarterback, with Willis and Levis following him in the pecking order. Tannehill, who said he is feeling good following last December's ankle surgery, is ready to put last year's tumultuous season behind him.
"Tough," Tannehill said when asked to describe the 2022 season. "Just finishing the way we did. Not being able to be out there, it sucks. At that point, my focus was doing everything physically I could to get ready, putting the work in to get the ankle right and feeling good being able to move around again and getting ready for next yer."
