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The football offseason is in full swing now that the Super Bowl has concluded, especially when it comes to NFL Mock Draft projections.
Over at ESPN, Todd McShay just dropped his latest projection for the entire first round of this year’s draft. In it, he has Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Will Levis going seventh overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, who are in need of a new franchise signal-caller after cutting Derek Carr this week.
Here’s what McShay had to say of projecting Levis to Vegas.
The Derek Carr era is over, and Tom Brady is no longer an option after he retired this month. Las Vegas will explore other available veterans, but Levis would fit in nicely. He has a huge arm to drive the ball downfield to Davante Adams, and at 232 pounds, he is a strong runner on designed rushes and scrambles. Levis has experience with pro-style concepts, too, and his ceiling is sky high. But can coach Josh McDaniels clean up Levis’ turnovers (23 interceptions over the past two years) and maximize his traits? That will be the biggest question for the team that ultimately picks Levis. If the Raiders can iron out those issues, they might have a long-term solve to help them compete in the AFC West with the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
A two-time team captain at UK, Levis finished his college career with a 17-7 record as the starter in his two seasons as a Wildcat. He totaled 5,233 passing yards, sixth on UK’s career list, while tossing 43 career passing touchdowns, ranking fifth all-time. He also produced six 300-yard passing games as a Wildcat, fourth in school history.
Levis obviously didn’t have the kind of 2022 season he hoped for, though UK obviously had a lot of issues that kept him from showing his full potential week in and week out.
Despite this, Levis is still widely viewed as one of the top quarterbacks in this draft and should hear his name called somewhere in the top 10. Other teams in need of a quarterback include the Houston Texans (No. 2 overall pick), Indianapolis Colts (No. 4 but trade up to No. 1 for Bryce Young in this projection), and Carolina Panthers (No. 9).
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