"God makes no mistakes" - When Sauce Gardner encouraged Will Levis after QB slipped out of first round of draft

Waiting in the NFL draft green room gets tiresome when one is expected to be among the top picks but has to wait until the end to get drafted. It happened with Aaron Rodgers in 2005, Lamar Jackson in 2018, Shedeur Sanders in 2025, and also Will Levis in 2023.

Many analysts predicted Kentucky’s Levis to be among the top five picks, with some even expecting him to go as the No. 2 overall pick. Thus, Levis was in the back room, hoping his name would be called soon, but Day One just wasn’t his.

Later in the day, former Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner showed empathy for Levis and tweeted his support on X on April 28, 2023:

“Will Levis… God makes no mistakes. You will be great.”

A few days later, Gardner was asked about his tweet. He responded:

“I was watching the draft and I just kept seeing the camera on him, and they were just saying the percentage of him getting picked after a certain pick.

“The camera kept being on him, and you can see when somebody is trying to stay positive even though something is really eating them from the inside out.”

The camera kept panning to Kentucky’s former quarterback Will Levis as each pick passed by, waiting alongside his mother and sisters. He was eventually drafted by the Tennessee Titans as the No. 34 overall pick.

Though the No. 34 overall pick may sound too harsh for Levis’s talent, a look at the draft picks reveals a different picture. Levis received a production score of 80 in his NFL Combine and ranked fifth among quarterbacks. He was picked as the fourth QB of the league.

However, the first three QBs—Bryce Young (#1), C.J. Stroud (#2), and Anthony Richardson (#4)—were selected inside the top four overall picks. Levis was the only signal-caller taken on Day Two and was followed by Hendon Hooker of Tennessee, who was picked in Round Three.

Tennessee Titans select Cam Ward to signal a move on from Will Levis

Will Levis had a promising rookie season for the Titans, but his sophomore year was a disaster, where he received a QB rating of 27.8 and ranked last among qualifying quarterbacks.

Hence, the Titans have selected Miami’s Cam Ward, signaling Levis’s move to a backup role. However, GM Mike Borgonzi has acknowledged Levis’s talent and assured that the doors are not closed for him yet.