Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis underwent surgery to fix a right joint injury and is expected to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season, the team announced earlier today.

Levis suffered an AC joint injury against the Miami Dolphins on September 30th, 2024. He is scheduled to undergo surgery for the injury on July 29th.

Will Levis to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.

Story: https://t.co/oEXz8RbqKN pic.twitter.com/i6cPHBuzMt

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) July 21, 2025

“After consulting with doctors and his representatives, Will Levis has decided to undergo shoulder surgery that will sideline him for the entire 2025 season,” the team said in an official statement. “We support his decision to focus on his long-term health. He approached the offseason with professionalism and showed clear growth as a leader. We remain confident in his full recovery.”

Will Levis was taken in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In his first two seasons in the league, he has started in 21 games, throwing 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Last year, he made 12 starts for the Titans, who finished with the worst record in the NFL, allowing them to take Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

An easy decision becomes even easier

There was never really any doubt about it, but this announcement solidified Cam Ward as the Tennessee Titans’ starting quarterback. The only person who could’ve even threatened Ward’s status as the team’s starter was Will Levis, who has over four times as many starts as Tim Boyle and more than twice as many starts as Brandon Allen. With Will Levis’ season coming to an end before the beginning of the preseason, Cam Ward is guaranteed to be the Titans’ Week One starter if he is able to remain healthy.

The Titans may miss Levis’s ability to impart some wisdom on Cam Ward. Levis isn’t a once-great quarterback on his last legs who can help coach up a young rookie like Josh McCown did with Sam Darnold. After all, he just turned 26. But, he does have the most starts by a quarterback on the roster and could’ve given Ward some advice or assistance on the sidelines.

With Will Levis out for the year, No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward is now poised to become the Titans’ starting quarterback, despite the fact that the team has not named him its starter.

The Titans other backup QBs are veterans Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle. Ward now shapes up as the… pic.twitter.com/tRnqd2QRta

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 21, 2025

The timing of his decision is interesting. Apparently, he tried to approach his recovery with rest and rehab, but that didn’t work, so he just recently decided to have surgery. This makes me think that Will Levis has no interest in being a backup or helping Cam Ward succeed in the NFL. Levis is only in his third season and likely believes he can still be a team’s starter. Plus, Cam Ward is coming in and basically taking Levis’s job from him. In that scenario, you can’t blame Levis for electing to have surgery later and missing out on this season. He probably doesn’t want to sit on the bench and watch the hot, new quarterback succeed where he had once failed.

There are two things that we can take away from this surgical decision. First, the Titans will be an absolute disaster offensively if Cam Ward is unable to start every game. Second, Will Levis will become a free agent in two years when his rookie contract expires.