The Tennessee Titans released quarterback Will Levis as they started cutting their roster from 91 players to 53 before Sunday’s deadline. The move removes a former starter from Tennessee’s quarterback room and puts a sharper edge on a day built around hard choices.
Levis was the biggest name in the first wave of cuts. Ian Rapoport reported that the Titans released him, while Jeremy Fowler reported that he wanted out of Tennessee. That combination made the decision more than a routine roster trim. It was a clean break on a player who had already been central to the team’s recent plans, and it landed as the Titans worked through a long list of moves after their preseason ended with a 25-15 loss to the Chicago Bears.
The numbers tell the rest of the story. Tennessee had 91 players to sort through, and the first pass already included running back Michael Carter, veteran wide receiver KJ Osborn, defensive tackle Timmy Horne, linebacker Mani Powell, tight end Joel Wilson and defensive end Earnest Brown IV. The Titans also waived linebacker Dorian Mausi, defensive back Derrick Canteen, undrafted rookies Hank Beatty and Tyren Montgomery, and cornerback Jalen McMurray, while Jordan Schultz reported they were moving on from veteran defensive end Malik Herring. Mason Kinsey said on Instagram that he was being released, adding another name to a list that kept growing as the deadline approached.
There was one clear wrinkle in the middle of all that movement. Cornerback Joshua Williams will open the season on injured reserve and was designated to return, meaning he will miss at least the first four games, while the Titans also placed Mausi on injured reserve. Those moves create some short-term relief, but they do not answer the bigger question around the final roster. If Tennessee has already cut a former starter at quarterback, then the last spots will be shaped by whether the team wants more help on the offensive line or in the pass rush, or whether it keeps leaning on the players already in place.
For now, the Titans have done what cutdown day demands: they have started the purge and signaled that no job is safe, not even one once held by a starter. The rest of the 53-man roster will tell whether Levis was the exception or the first sign of how aggressively Tennessee plans to remake the depth chart.
