With a few hours left before the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, here’s the one quarterback nugget I can’t seem to get out of my head: Kentucky’s Will Levis was proficient the past two years in offenses run by Liam Coen, a Sean McVay disciple, and Rich Scangarello, who has been as important an assistant to Kyle Shanahan as there was during Shanahan’s rise to the upper rungs of the coaching business.
Now let’s look at the teams slotted to make the first 12 picks.
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No. 1, Panthers: Have an offensive coordinator who came from McVay’s Rams, Thomas Brown.
No. 2, Texans: Have an offensive coordinator who came from Shanahan’s 49ers, Bobby Slowik.
No. 4, Colts: Have an offensive coordinator in Jim Bob Cooter, who spent the past few seasons marrying his run and pass game together. While Cooter’s last few gigs were with the Jaguars, Eagles, Jets and Lions, it would be hard to watch Jacksonville in 2022 and not see some 49ers-Rams influence. Also, as a few other folks have mentioned, I heard the post-combine chatter about the Colts’ affinity for Levis.
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No. 5, Seahawks: Have an offensive coordinator who came from the Rams, Shane Waldron.
No. 8, Falcons: Have a head coach in Arthur Smith, who came from the Titans, which ran a version of the 49ers’ offense.
No. 9, Bears: Have an offensive coordinator in Luke Getsy who came from the Packers, which ran a version of the 49ers’ offense.
No. 11, Titans: As mentioned above, Tennessee runs an offense inspired by the 49ers, which was initially brought in by former coordinator (now Packers head coach) Matt LaFleur
No. 12, Texans: (See No. 2).
Basically, I think Levis could hit the ground running in plenty of locations, and that matters a great deal for coaches whose futures are determined by the immediate success of young quarterbacks. He can boast similar scheme fits with the Packers (pick No. 13), Jets (No. 15) and Vikings (No. 23).
The long and short of it: As I wrote in my mock draft Tuesday, I don’t think he’ll make it out of the top five, let alone the first 12 picks I outlined above.
