The 2023 NFL Draft slide involving Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Will Levis continues to leave some scratching their heads.
Late Thursday night shortly before it became clear Levis would not be a first-round pick, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen revealed that a supposed lingering left toe injury “was ‘problematic’ for one team that considered” drafting the signal-caller:
However, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported Friday afternoon that an unnamed general manager said “that the toe excuse is ‘bull—-.'”
Additionally, a “seasoned and experienced personnel evaluator” claimed teams may have become “insecure” and started “questioning” their evaluations upon watching Levis drop further and further down the draft order. That source also said that “20-to-25 teams had a first-round grade on Levis, even if none would admit it now.”
ESPN Analytics determined Levis “had almost zero chance” to finish the first round as an undrafted prospect, and all six CBS Sports analysts who finished their final mock drafts by Thursday evening predicted Levis would be a first-round choice. CBS’ Pete Prisco had even argued Levis should be the top-ranked quarterback in this draft class over Bryce Young, who went first overall to the Carolina Panthers.
Levis reportedly “didn’t wow” New England Patriots team executives during a top-30 visit last week. According to Justin Terranova of the New York Post, ESPN draft guru Todd McShay said during an on-air segment that Levis “came off as not having an ideal personality” during the predraft process.
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard passed on taking Levis with the fourth-overall pick on Thursday night and later blasted people who report “all the crap that comes out about these kids” in the months, weeks and days leading up to a draft.
Whatever did or didn’t happen behind the scenes, some team will hope that Levis finds himself extra motivated over the fact he didn’t get to walk out onto the draft stage on Thursday night.
