NFL Draft prospect Will Levis may have missed out on a first-round selection on Thursday due to a “nagging toe injury”, according to reports.
Pre-draft, some NFL analysts and pundits had Kentucky quarterback Levis, 23, being selected at least inside the top ten, with shouts of even a first-overall pick being made.
However, Levis’ night didn’t go to plan, being left on the board heading into round two. Cameras regularly showed the NFL Draft prospect as the night went on, with Levis getting more and more visibly nervous as picks passed him by while he was surrounded by his influencer girlfriend and his family.
Levis has previously stated that he wouldn’t want to go to the first-round spectacle if he wasn’t going to be selected to save any potential embarrassment. And according to ESPN, it could potentially be a “nagging toe injury” that caused his first-round disappointment after getting suited and booted.
Levis had a toe injury that forced him to miss two games last season, which was viewed as problematic by a franchise that had considered picking him. The player believes his toe is fully healed, but that wasn’t a universally echoed assessment.
In fact, ESPN says that another NFL team believes that Levis would have to have surgery on the toe eventually after managing the injury throughout the 2023 season.
A team that passed on the opportunity to draft Levis in the first round was the Las Vegas Raiders, who could do with a quarterback for the future. Their QB department is currently Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer but but the franchise decided to pick Texas Tech edge rusher Tyree Wilson.
Levis’ first-round snub could also leave the door open for a potential return to the NFL for seven-time Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady, who retired for the second time earlier this year.
The Raiders have former New England Patriots stars and coaches on their books, including both Garoppolo and Hoyer, who were teammates of Brady’s, as well as now head coach Josh McDaniels. The coach was part of the coaching staff for all six of Brady's titles in Foxborough. Brady himself dodged fresh questions over whether he’d stay retired last week at the eMerge Americas technology conference.
