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Tennessee Titans coach Brian Callahan is encouraged by quarterback Will Levis, who had surgery this week and will miss the 2025 season with a repaired shoulder. Levis, a second-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, participated in OTAs and offseason workouts with the Titans while competing with rookie Cameron Ward for the starting job.

Levis started 21 games the last two seasons for the Titans, but suffered an injury to the AC joint early last fall and re-aggravated the injury later during the season. Levis decided this month to repair his shoulder and miss the upcoming campaign.

"I texted him yesterday," Callahan said Wednesday. "Said everything went well. He was pretty fresh out of surgery, so you know how that goes sometimes. But everything was great. ... He's good, he seemed in good spirits and it sounds like everything went well."

Levis didn't appear to be bothered by his shoulder during the offseason, but the franchise was fully supportive of his decision to opt for surgery. Levis alternated first-team reps with Ward during minicamp and that was going to be the expectation heading into the preseason before his decision to take himself out of the competition.

Previously, Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi did not specify whether Levis or Ward was going to be the team's starter this season.

Ward, the No. 1 overall pick, will have the keys to the offense exclusively with Levis on the shelf as a first-year player. Callahan doesn't want Ward to have a fear of failure during camp.

"I think that's a lot of players in camp ... the daily updates and who wins and who loses, who performs well and who doesn't, gets in the way sometimes of what we're really after," Callahan said. "We're trying to develop every day and get better. We want guys to take risks on how they play, quarterbacks in particular, make throws or try throws that maybe you're not going to do in the game. See how it feels and (determine) if you have that one in your bag or not, you know? 

"You want guys to play fast. You don't want them to fear failure and we'll coach and correct any mistakes that come up. The idea is you don't make them again and keep pushing forward."

Callahan said Ward has shown great command of the offense during the first few days of camp and that the coaching staff is seeing growth in his maturity at the line of scrimmage.

Ward helped the Miami Hurricanes win 10 games last season after leading college football with 39 touchdown passes as a Heisman Trophy finalist. He set a combined FCS and FBS career touchdowns record with 158 after transferring from Washington State for his final season in the ACC.