Titans Camp — Aug 31: Levis and Hooker Out, Two Quarterbacks Left

The Titans waived Will Levis at Sunday's cutdown, per Ian Rapoport at NFL Network — the 33rd overall pick in the 2023 draft. Tennessee also waived Hendon Hooker and is keeping only two quarterbacks, Cam Ward and Mitchell Trubisky, on the initial 53, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk, with Jim Wyatt's roster piece at the team's website confirming it. Justin Melo at Titans Sized reported the front office could not get even a late-round pick in trade for Levis before waiving him. Asked Saturday about his future, Levis said, "I don't want to predict or talk about things that haven't happened yet," per Wyatt; after his release he offered a farewell statement to Nashville, per Nick Suss at The Tennessean, who framed the tenure as three-plus seasons, 21 touchdowns in 21 starts, and a 2025 lost to shoulder surgery. No coach or general manager comment surfaced on cut day itself — the moves arrived by transaction wire and insider report.

A correction on our own ledger. Our last episode called the quarterback room "one obvious place the math gets done" and framed it as Ward with Trubisky and Levis behind him — three names. The room held four: Hooker had been signed back in April, per the Pro Football Rumors archive, and his name did not appear in that episode. The math got done more thoroughly than our framing allowed for, and the veteran we last mentioned leaving practice with a biceps issue is the one holding the clipboard behind Ward.

That episode also filed before the Seattle game it billed as the tiebreaker between practice Ward and game Ward, and the tiebreaker answered soft. Tennessee beat the Seahawks 19-16 that Sunday night, per Wyatt, but Ward's three first-quarter series produced 3 points on 8-of-12 passing for 69 yards — and per Kevin Patra at NFL.com, all eight completions came within 10 yards of the line while Ward went 0-for-4 on throws of 10-plus air yards. "I think just missed opportunities on some plays... just got to be better down the field as a whole," Ward said afterward, per Patra. Four days later the practice version reappeared — 21-of-34 with three touchdowns and an interception in Thursday's joint practice against the Bears, per Wyatt, with Chimere Dike catching four passes and two touchdowns — and then Ward sat the finale entirely. The two quarterbacks in one body both made it to September.

The rest of the cutdown ledger, compressed. Receiver K.J. Osborn was released, per Adam Schefter at ESPN, as was running back D'Ernest Johnson, also per Schefter — this despite the game-winning touchdown against Seattle and another score against Chicago. Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders was released, per Paul Kuharsky at his site; edge Malik Herring, a two-time Super Bowl champion, per Jordan Schultz at Fox Sports; receiver Mason Kinsey was waived, ending what Austin Stanley and Easton Freeze at A to Z Sports called a six-year run with the organization. Running backs Michael Carter, per Alper, and Kalel Mullings, per Wyatt, went out too, leaving a backfield of Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut and Nick Singleton by Wyatt's accounting — Singleton, out injured when our last episode filed, made the 53. The injured-reserve slate: linebacker Dorian Mausi and cornerback Joshua Williams with return designations, per Alper, plus Tanoh Kpassagnon and offensive lineman Andre James, per Stanley and Freeze.

The battles we left open both resolved. Rookie Fernando Carmona won the starting right guard job and Cordell Volson was released, having "played himself right off the roster" with what Melo called a dreadful preseason. Rookie edge Keldric Faulk, day-to-day with a shoulder stinger a week ago, made the 53, per Wyatt. And the receiver room settled at six, per Wyatt's roster piece: Calvin Ridley, Wan'Dale Robinson, Carnell Tate, Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and Xavier Restrepo. The missing name the beat treated as a surprise, per Kuharsky: Bryce Oliver, waived. Robinson gave the week a scare — evaluated for a concussion after a joint-practice hit from Bears safety Xavier Woods that Robert Saleh called "cheap," per Pro Football Talk — before Rapoport reported Friday that he is not believed to have suffered one.

Which brings us to Tate, the running hard-luck story, whose week split cleanly in two. Thursday against the Bears he had his best day of camp — 7 catches and 2 touchdowns in the joint practice, repeatedly targeted by Ward, per Wyatt. Saturday he played the opening series of the finale, drew one deep target, and caught nothing, closing his preseason at zero receptions on six targets across the three games, per Wyatt. Both columns are real — the practice-dominant, game-catchless split is the quarterback's arc in miniature — and the roster answered the only question it could: he's one of the six.

The finale itself, briefly: Bears 24, Titans 15 on Saturday, per Wyatt. Ward and most starters sat — Saleh explained the team "overshot our projected reps for the entire camp by 50 or 60 reps" and called camp "very productive," per Wyatt. Levis started and went 14-of-22 for 143 yards with three scoring drives; Hooker finished, 5-of-8 for 37. Chicago's Tyson Bagent threw a 97-yard touchdown to Zavion Thomas on the Bears' first offensive snap, per Wyatt; cornerback Keydrain Calligan was waived the next day, per Stanley and Freeze. And Joey Slye made all three field goals — 25, 28 and 56 yards — to finish the preseason 11-for-11, a run Wyatt counts at 36 consecutive makes when open practices are included.

Back in July we previewed Tennessee as year zero with receipts — a roster gap two wins wide, the league's biggest offseason spend, and everything riding on whether Ward's rough rookie charting was the collapsing building around him or the quarterback inside it. Cut day answered the roster question around that bet emphatically — two quarterbacks, a rookie right guard, six receivers, the veterans cleared out — but not the bet itself. Ward closed camp the same split quarterback our last episode found: a 76.7 percent completion rate for the practice week before Seattle by Wyatt's tracking, then zero completions past 10 air yards in his final game outing of the preseason, per Patra. The next evidence comes in games that count.

What to watch next: the waiver wire clears and the practice squads form behind it — where Levis, Hooker, Oliver and the rest of this week's names actually land is the next episode's job. Alper writes the Titans seem likely to have a third quarterback on the practice squad once waivers clear — an expectation until a name is on paper. Beyond that, the open Week 1 question: which Cam Ward shows up when the score is real, and whether Carnell Tate's first NFL catch comes with it. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._