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Titans QB Will Levis will have season-ending shoulder surgery

Titans QB Will Levis will have season-ending shoulder surgery

Yahoo4 days ago
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee quarterback Will Levis will have season-ending shoulder surgery, keeping him from competing for playing time in his third season with the Titans.
The Titans announced Monday that Levis made his decision after consulting with doctors and his representatives. The Titans report Tuesday for training camp.
'We support his decision to focus on his long-term health,' the Titans said in a statement. 'He approached the offseason with professionalism and showed clear growth as a leader. We remain confident in his full recovery.'
Tennessee, which wrapped up its minicamp June 12, doesn't open the preseason until Aug. 9 at Tampa Bay with the regular-season opener Sept. 7 at Denver. Levis' surgery is scheduled for July 29.
The Titans used the No. 1 overall pick on quarterback Cam Ward in April after Levis struggled mightily starting 12 games in 2024. He threw for 2,091 yards, but he had 13 TD passes with 12 interceptions. He was sacked 41 times as Tennessee went 3-14 to land the top draft pick.
Tennessee also added veteran quarterbacks Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle this offseason.
Levis was the 33rd overall pick in 2023 when Tennessee's previous general manager Ran Carthon traded up to select the quarterback out of Kentucky. Carthon lasted just two seasons before being fired in January.
The quarterback started 12 games in 2024 after spraining the AC joint in his right, throwing shoulder Sept. 30 against Miami while diving for a first down. Tennessee had a bye. Then Levis played against Indianapolis in a home loss by three points after a late-game interception.
Levis admitted after the game his shoulder played a part in that late pick. He was sidelined the next three games before returning.
After the Titans took Ward in the draft, coach Brian Callahan rotated quarterbacks during the offseason program with no starter announced, which he said he planned to continue into training camp. Still, Ward is expected to be the starter when the Titans open the regular season.
That seemed to leave the competition for the No. 2 position wide open for Levis, who took part throughout the team's offseason program. He told reporters in June he felt more comfortable in his second season in Callahan's offense and was looking forward to training camp.
"I feel like I'm starting to get to that point as a quarterback, and it's just cool to feel that and see it and show everyone else here,' Levis said during minicamp.
Rookie draft class all signed
The Titans announced late Monday afternoon the last of their nine draft picks signed his rookie contract.
Linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo was the 52nd selection overall in the second round. He started 27 of 46 games, switching to edge rusher last year season when he had 4 1/2 sacks and 13 1/2 tackles for loss at UCLA.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press
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Uh, I think we got away from that and we got back to kind of this old school under the table collectives were creative way of getting around more traditional sponsorships and endorsement deals just to find ways to kids money. Uh, I, I, I really hope that we can, can kind of rein that in a bit. However, uh, I think that the house settlement obviously is changing and professionalizing collegiate sports in a way that we've never seen in the I do think that, uh, some of these schools where football is their main sport, they're gonna have to make some very interesting resource allocation decisions, right? Because most of that money, reports that I'm reading, you know, of 20.5 million, 1617 million of that may be spent on football. So now the non-football schools, uh, may have the opportunity to be a little bit more competitive in, let's say men's and women's basketball, because they can allocate those resources more so to those particular, uh,Revenue drivers for their school. Joe, it's gonna be absolutely fascinating as I, as I let off. There are going to be some legal challenges because lawyers typically with respect to student athlete rights, they want to give their athletes freedom to be able to choose and earn as they wish. So I, I, I, I think it's going to be still a degree of wild wild west, and we'll see if the government is gonna step in and create some kind of national legislation. I think that's gonna be more trouble than it's worth. Yeah, to your point, it's gonna be interesting to see when that first school sort of goes over that bumper and tries to navigate the rules, uh, in a different manner and what that punishment is, because I think that's gonna be sort of a watershed moment for the, for the industry as a whole to really see what the punishment is. But time will tell, probably in the next couple of years here, if I had to imagine. But Patrick, you recently released a study, uh, an economic study on the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay. And I want to dig into this a little bit if we these events are really interesting from a finance perspective, because everyone looks at events and they say, oh, it brings this huge economic impact. And sometimes maybe that's true, a lot of times it's probably not. But Green Bay is sort of a unique area where they weren't going to be able to get a Super Bowl. They built out this Title Town district, basically an entertainment district around the stadium. So then they were given the NFL draft. Now, this is still a big event in a small market. Tell me a little bit about what you were able to determine through this study. Sure, you know, the NFL draft is interesting and, and yes, you're bringing in a lot of fans. Now granted, you're bringing in a lot of, let's say regional fans or fans from bordering states, unlike, let's say the College World Series in Omaha, where you truly are getting people from all over the country and it's a higher percentage. For the NFL draft, and I've done the study now the last couple of years, last year in Detroit, this year in Green Bay, you are still getting a lot of non-locals, people that are not from the immediate, let's say, surround uh the host city, but it tends to be more regional in the sense that maybe you'll get people from other parts of the state, Milwaukee, Madison, and then bordering states like Minnesota, Michigan, uh, Illinois and the like, but they're coming in, regardless of how far away they're coming. They are coming in, they're spending money at hotels, and they're also getting a chance to kind of, in in some cases, experiencing Green Bay for the first time, and that could lead to future tourism. Uh, you, always fascinating when you're doing the survey research as we do on site, and then you just have these anecdotal conversations with people. Man, I've never been up here before. 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But I think at least hosting this, you at least have an initial sense and a feel for what groups, when I say groups, uh, a venue and property owners are gonna have to do to run those events at SOI in Miami, in Kansas City, at, at the GHA Field, uh, all these places that are hosting World Cup matches next summer. Yeah, and the last thing I'd like to talk about is just kind of overall the sports industry and where things head over the next few years. As someone who looks a lot at, uh, virtually every sports league, I imagine, and certainly the ones here in North America, are there any specific sports leagues, uh, that stand out to you, maybe one or two of them that you think are poised for growth over the next couple of years? You know, there's been so much focus on the WNBA and NWSL and of course, of the women's professional sports leagues, those are the leagues that, you know, arguably carry the most gravitas and most attention, uh, for a variety of reasons. But I think that when it comes toTo the the love volleyball league as well as women's softball, you know, women's sports generally, as we all know, has really picked up momentum in the last several years for a variety of reasons, more love from media, more love from corporate partners, and those two kind of flow I, I, I actually think that women's softball is going to be a growth sport because if you look at the women's College World Series, all the ratings continue to grow, uh, the attendance is usually sold out there in Oklahoma City, but I think that's an area where, you know, the games are faster, the action is fast, and that and volleyball, I are two areas that are going to see more growth, more expansion, as more people want to get into the ownership of pro sports but are priced out, you know, there, it used to be that people would get into, uh, the NWSL and the WNBA because they were priced out of being in the NBA or in the NFL. Guess what? Those franchise increased so rapidly in women's basketball and women's soccer that now the next tier of ownership could be those sports volleyball and softball and, and quite frankly, again, we've seen the ratings, the college level have grown, so I do think this is a growth opportunity for many, uh, for many markets and also many people that want to invest in women's sports. Very interesting. I love those two picks with uh softball and volleyball, but thanks so much for joining us, Patrick. I had a great time talking to clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzzs. So let's talk about Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg famously keeps his mind on his money and his money on his mile, and now he's putting some of that money toward a new ownership stake in soccer club Swansea City. Last week, Swansea City confirmed that the American rapper is joining its ownership group as a co-owner and investor, but financial terms were not disclosed. 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Pete Carroll says Raiders didn't rush into decision to release Christian Wilkins
Pete Carroll says Raiders didn't rush into decision to release Christian Wilkins

Yahoo

time20 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Pete Carroll says Raiders didn't rush into decision to release Christian Wilkins

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Raiders coach Pete Carroll said Friday the club didn't rush into its decision to release defensive tackle Christian Wilkins the day before over a dispute regarding his recovery from a broken foot. 'We took a long time to make our decision,' Carroll said. 'We watched our way through the whole thing. We're keeping it really clear with what we said. I think there was no clear path to his return, so we just had to move on.' His comments largely echoed the statement issued by the Las Vegas organization on Thursday. The Raiders didn't mince worse with an unusually strongly-worded statement, saying that Wilkins failed to provide a "clear path or plan for future return to play.' Wilkins was injured in Week 5 last season and had some sort of setback in his recovery that took him out of offseason practices and landed him on the physically unable to perform list shortly before training camp opened Wednesday. Wilkins, 29, was the Raiders' marquee free-agent signing last year, agreeing to a four-year, $110 million contract with $82.75 million guaranteed. The Raiders reportedly are voiding the remaining $35.25 million of Wilkins' deal. Wilkins has filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association, a person with knowledge of the situation said. That person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. The Raiders will have a dead-salary cap of $29.8 million even if they win the grievance. With Wilkins off the roster, Adam Butler and Jonah Laulu ran first team at tackle this week in practice. Butler started 16 games last season, finishing with 65 tackles, eight for loss and five sacks. Laulu started seven games as a rookie, making 35 tackles, with three for loss and a sack. Both players were in all 17 games. 'This place is about competition,' Carroll said. 'It always has been. It's wide open. I'm not going to talk about any names right now. If you watch the rotations, we're giving everybody a chance. We're mixing the (starters) with the (backups) all the way throughout just to gather a bunch of information.' Wilkins was brought to Las Vegas to add an even stronger presence to a defensive line that includes pass rushers Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce. He had a career-high nine sacks in 2023 with Miami to go with his elite run stopping ability. The hopes of forming one of the NFL's most imposing defensive lines took a major hit when all three linemen suffered season-ending injuries, though Crosby and Koonce are back practicing. Crosby was nearly unblockable Friday as the team continued to work in non-padded practices. Wilkins had two sacks and 17 tackles in five games before injuring his foot, which required surgery. He suffered a Jones fracture — a break of the bone that connects the pinkie toe to the base of the foot. ___ AP NFL:

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