NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eighteen of the Titans 24 players who see the most action when healthy have five years of experience or less.

Those players should still be ascending.

But roughly midway through the 2023 season, how many are showing steady, overall progress?

Mike Vrabel wouldn’t touch the question this week when I asked him for examples beyond three obvious players who top this list. And I can understand game-by-game charting can be dangerous – you can be making gains and have some occasional poor outings. 

I asked Derrick Henry about how he gauged his progression as a young player.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Will Levis is officially in that starting lineup and Ryan Tannehill is officially out of it.

The injury report doesn't look great with Sean Murphy-Bunting and Daniel Brunskill out of practice so far this week.

The Buccaneers, however, have lost four games in a row and they don't top 20 points a game just like the Titans.

So Levis could have a favorable matchup against a team with banged-up corners on Sunday. He's the primary and secondary cause for excitement for Titans fans at this point and it's understandable. I shared this earlier and the deep heat is an obvious difference from what Ryan Tannehill was able to do before the injury-prompted change.

Will Levis' heat map through two games, left, and Ryan Tannehill's heat map from the season, right. #Titans pic.twitter.com/pVMgsHgZtB

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) November 9, 2023

So at halftime of Thursday Night Football, we chatted about all things Titans on the private Facebook page and on YouTube which you can find below. Enjoy yourself a nice rewatch.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Will Levis can endure pressure, make plays under pressure and avoid pressure.

That's great news for the Titans' bad offensive line, which needs all the help it can get.

It in no way forgives the team's awful job at player assessment and acquisition on the line. But I think he's got a much better chance of surviving back there than Ryan Tannehill did.

That's where we commence this week's episode of The Paul Kuharsky Podcast.

The new episode awaits you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube, which is also embedded below.

Other subjects I dive into:

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

Mike Vrabel’s announcement on Tuesday that rookie quarterback Will Levis will be the Titans starter “going forward” will serve as a marker separating one era of this franchise’s history from the next. Before we discuss what the future may hold for Levis’ Titans, I want to briefly give some flowers to Ryan Tannehill, whose four-plus year run as the signal caller in Tennessee was extremely successful by virtually any measure.

Barring an injury to Levis over the final nine weeks, Tannehill will finish 38-23 as a starting quarterback. His 62.3 percent win percentage is the best among any quarterback in franchise history with at least 50 starts for the team, topping Steve McNair’s 58.0 percent clip during his run from the late 90s and early 2000s.

He also tops the franchise record books in yards per attempt (7.8), passer rating (98.0), and completion percentage (66.4) among passers with at least 500 attempts. Tannehill also ranks fifth in total passing yards and passing touchdowns while throwing interceptions at a lower rate (2.2 percent) than any other quarterback in Titans/Oilers history.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ideally, Ryan Tannehill has played his last game for the Titans.

Sadly, the first game most people will remember of the 69 total games he started for the franchise was a high-stakes failure, a home divisional round playoff game as the No. 1 seed against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Titans were a win away from hosting an AFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history and Tannehill threw three interceptions.

The performance scarred him, sending him to therapy to sort things out. He and the team still haven’t recovered, with poor roster choices creating holes and injuries creating further complications. His passer rating dropped nearly 15 points from his work before that game and after it. The teams’ record with him at the helm went from 30-13 to 8-10. He's injured his right ankle three times.

Things usually don’t unwind neatly and nicely.

Still, as he becomes Will Levis’ backup we should shake free of the playoff loss to the Bengals and consider just how important a player Tannehill was for the franchise.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – While all sorts of fans and commentators read tea leaves and found paths for Mike Vrabel to wedge Ryan Tannehill back into the starting lineup, the coach told the veteran quarterback early Tuesday that he was now Will Levis’ backup.

Later he informed the team that Levis is the starter and then shared it with the media, ending speculation heading into Week 10’s game at Tampa Bay as Tannehill becomes healthy enough to become part of the mix again after two games missed with a high right ankle sprain.

Levis had an outstanding four-touchdown debut in a win over Atlanta and stood in against a tough pass rush in Pittsburgh, showing more than enough for the Titans to move forward with their quarterback of the future at 3-5.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The shoulder injury Nicholas Petit-Frere suffered in Pittsburgh will require surgery. He is most likely finished for the season.

The second-year tackle was suspended the first four games of the season for a gambling violation and did not retake the right tackle job as the incumbent when he returned as his replacement, Chris Hubbard, was doing pretty good work.

But NPF was inserted as a substitute for Andre Dillard at left tackle during the Titans' loss to the Ravens in London and started at left tackle against Atlanta and at Pittsburgh. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- You've got mail. 

The Titans are quiet until Tuesday.

But you've got a lot on your mind and I'm here to give you something engaging to read in the meantime.

Anthony Michael Do you have any thoughts on why Vrabel is always so reluctant on stating the obvious? In this case Levis being the starter even when Tannehill is healthy?

Gamesmanship, in this instance, and to treat Ryan Tannehill well.

It’s not important what Mike Vrabel says about the status of quarterback 10 days before their next game. It’s