What’s a backup quarterback to think when his team trades up to take a QB with the second pick of the second round of the NFL Draft?

That’s what the Tennessee Titans did in the 2023 NFL Draft, moving to No. 33 to make Kentucky’s Will Levis the fourth quarterback chosen this year.

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For Malik Willis, the addition of Levis hasn’t changed his approach to his offseason work with Tennessee.

“What does knowing that change?” Willis said this week. “You go to work the same way. It don’t matter. …

“It’s the same amount of competition. You’re competing against yourself every day. You don’t go competing against guys. You don’t go looking over your shoulder. You just try to get better, bro.”

Titans coach Mike Vrabel established the pecking order at quarterback on the night the Titans drafted Levis. But he also said which QB occupies which line on the depth chart would be based on competition.

“Ryan (Tannehill) will be the starting quarterback on Monday,” Vrabel said. “Malik will be the backup. Will will be the third quarterback.

“And what I’ve told them is whatever happens after that will be up to the players. That’s what it’s always been here. That’s what we always want it to be.”

Drafted in the third round in 2022 from Liberty, where he transferred after two seasons at Auburn, Willis completed 31-of-61 passes for 276 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions and ran for 123 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries in his first NFL season.

Willis started in Tannehill’s place in a 17-10 victory over the Houston Texans on Oct. 30, a 20-17 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 6 and a 17-14 loss to the Texans on Dec. 18.

But Tannehill missed two other games last season with injuries, and the Titans chose to start Joshua Dobbs after signing him from the Detroit Lions’ practice squad on Dec. 21.

“What we’d asked Malik to do is come back with a presence to him,” Vrabel said this week. “Making sure that when you’re the quarterback of one of 32 franchises, there’s a certain demeanor and way you have to carry yourself and a presence and leadership. There’s a lot that goes into that other than just delivering a football.

“You have to be really good at delivering the football, being accurate and making great decisions and making sure it goes where it’s supposed to go. I felt like he did that. He came back and was into it. There was certainly a bounce to him, and he’s continued to do that. It’s early on in the evaluation process, but that’s what he’s done.”

Two days after a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the regular-season finale kept Tennessee out of the playoffs, the Titans fired offensive coordinator Todd Downing. Tim Kelly will handle that job in 2023 after working as the Titans’ passing-game coordinator in 2022.

Promoting from within would indicate minimal changes to Tennessee’ offensive playbook for 2023, but that hasn’t been the impression conveyed by the Titans’ players, with Tannehill referring to the offseason installation as “new terminology, new concepts, huge changes.”

Kelly said the offense would be flexible enough to fit each of Tennessee’s quarterbacks.

“With Malik, he’s done a great job of doing everything we’ve asked him to do,” Kelly said this week. “He’s come in, he’s put in the time. He’s put in extra work, studying our offense, studying defensive football. Malik’s done a great job of doing all that.

“As far as changing how he plays, I don’t know if that’s a fair thing to say. He’s got such a unique skill set. When he’s out there and he’s playing fast, you can really see those traits flourish, so we want to make sure, as we do with everybody, that we want to continue to put our guys in conditions and spots where they can go out and they can execute and they can play to their strengths.”

Tennessee is in the final stage of its offseason program. In Phase 3, teams are allowed to conduct 10 days of organized team practice activity, often referred to as OTAs. The Titans held their first three OTA practices this week. No contact work is permitted during these practices, but teams can expand their offseason workouts to include 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.

Tennessee also has its mandatory minicamp scheduled for June 6-8.

“Just trying to do the best I can to get better every day, whether that’s on the field or off the field,” Willis said about his offseason work. “Watching film and trying to focus on whatever the script has for the next day and just trying to use these opportunities and these reps through this spring process to just try to keep improving.”

As Jarrett Stidham’s backup at Auburn, Willis completed 11-of-14 passes for 69 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 309 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries in 2017 and 2018 with the Tigers. After transferring to Liberty, Willis completed 377-of-604 passes for 5,107 yards with 47 touchdowns and 18 interceptions and ran for 1,822 yards and 27 touchdowns on 338 carries in two seasons with the Flames.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.