Mayonnaise: I like it, you might like it, but no matter what, none of us feel nearly as strongly about it as Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis. In the past, Levis went viral for throwing the combination of oil, egg yolks, and some sort of acid into a cup of coffee, although he has made clear that this was a joke.
What isn’t a joke: Levis is teaming up with Hellmann’s to launch Will Levis No. 8, Parfum de Mayonnaise. It’s a fragrence that is built around his love of mayo — Uproxx got a bottle of it, and while I am not fragrence sommelier or anything like that, I can confirm that it smells good. The rollout includes one of those over the top fragence commercials that features Levis and really leans into the bit.
“With the launch of my signature scent, I’ve fulfilled a lifelong dream of partnering with Hellmann’s to craft a fragrance like no other, one truly embodying the distinct scent of greatness,” Levis said in a release. “Rich and creamy, Will Levis No. 8 is more than a mayonnaise-inspired fragrance. It’s transformative. I’ve eaten mayo, drank mayo, and now I can smell like mayo.”
Prior to the launch of the fragrence, Uproxx Sports caught up with Levis to discuss his partnership with Hellmann’s, his preparations for this upcoming NFL season in which the Titans will have a new head coach, and much more.
What do you got going on with Hellmann’s?
It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun, as it has been since the jump with these guys. But, since last year, we went and made some waves with our lifetime supply contract, and it was no hesitation in continuing the partnership and continuing to show my love and passion for mayonnaise. And they decided to bottle that up and throw it in a fragrance, and we did some really, really cool content that people are going to enjoy, I think.
But it’s something that I’m passionate about, as well, just fragrances and looking and feeling and smelling good. And for it to be tied into such an important part of my life and what’s going on with with Hellmann’s, it’s been a lot of fun, and for them to make the fragrance, fully make it available to the public, bring awareness to the brand and then, you know, me in our season, it’s really really cool. It’s a nice fragrance, too, it really encompasses greatness and has all the great things about mayonnaise, and I think people are really going to enjoy it. Just pumped about the whole thing.
So let’s be honest, I do really like mayo, but I think most people would be a little stunned by just how much you like it. Where does your love of mayonnaise come from?
It really just comes from a young age. Like, anytime I’d get a deli sandwich for lunch packed up on, you know, white bread, cut into triangles from my mom, there’s always a slab of mayo on it. Just something that went so well with with a food item, sandwiches, that I love so much. It was a constant on the rolls. So, it’s something that the brand itself that I recognized with me in my childhood — I remember opening the fridge and seeing it right there on the on the door and knowing exactly where it was at all times. A versatile and just very easily and well-used condiment that I think a lot of people don’t take enough time to to appreciate. So, every day, I thank my world for the mayonnaise that it has provided me.
Let’s talk a little bit of ball, just generally, how do you feel this offseason has gone?
It’s been great. It’s been a lot, training camp itself has been a grind, that’s what we’re in right now. And we can’t wait to go against a different defense. Our new staff has transformed our locker room and our culture in a great way, and the guys have really responded and leaned into what the coaches are trying to get out of us. Defensively they’re throwing us a lot of different looks that have made us an offense prepared for a lot of things that we’re gonna see throughout the season. But offseason itself, with my first offseason being the starting quarterback, I knew that the responsibilities that I had to undertake and just how much harder I had to work, and I think I’ve done a great job with it. Just got to keep working every day to earn the respect and keep growing as a leader, and I know that we’re going to be really good football team.
And you mentioned it, but I’m always interested in asking guys about their first full offseason in the NFL, because it’s your first one where you haven’t had to worry about class, you haven’t had to worry about transferring from one school to the next, haven’t had to worry about getting ready for the NFL Draft. Where were the main areas that you focused this offseason, whether that’s on the field or even if it was just taking some time away from it?
I think it was just getting healthy, was the biggest thing. I came out of last season with a lot of bumps and bruises, even some that came all the way from college that I didn’t feel 100 percent about. And finally, it’s like my body’s in a spot where I’m fully confident in my abilities when I go out there and step on that field, and I have everything in my arsenal that I’d like to have as a player. So, that’s a really good feeling. And then mentally, obviously with the new staff and the new offense, just dialing in on the offense, knowing kind of what we want our identity to be, or at least what we see our identity to potentially be, we’re not going to know until we get out there, 11-on-11, against a different team and we see what our strengths and weaknesses are. But just having that Rolodex of plays and understanding the different things that we’re trying to get out with the different parts of our playbook, and that helped me come to training camp ready to get rolling and be a light for the guys and show them the right direction.
So yeah, it’s been an awesome offseason, the first NFL offseason also is very fun because it’s our first time in our really playing career since high school where you have some extended time off, you’re able to do things and see people that you love and decompress, because when the season starts, there’s not a lot of that. And I definitely took the time that I needed to to get my body back, recuperate mentally and physically. But at the same time, keep my mind on the goals ahead.
You mentioned a new coaching staff coming in and a coach in coach Callahan. You talked about your identity as an offense — obviously, you won’t know until for sure until you get on the field and really start to get a sense of things. But, how would you define this identity that the Tennessee Titans are trying to put together?
We’re still trying to find it, but I was trying to more so point to the different faces that our offense has and and how we’re trying to affect teams differently, whether we’re trying to spread them horizontally, attack them vertically, what we’re trying to do in the run game, how our different run concepts are married with each other and how showing one thing could set up others, and that’s also married with our play action game. A lot of the concepts and stuff that I have ran in the past, but really more so diving into why we’re running them, what we’re trying to get out of them, and understanding, really more importantly, when we don’t get what we want out of it, what our answers are. And that’s going to make me the player that I want to get to, which is going to be just consistently making the right decision and not being bored making the right decision over and over again, even if it’s not the necessarily shot that we’re trying to hunt up. So yeah, I’m excited to show people where we got, we made a lot of really cool additions on both sides of the ball. We have a lot of playmakers that we’re going to have to share the ball with, and it’s going to be interesting to find out who’s best at what and how we’re gonna get everyone that touches that they deserve.
Coach Callahan, obviously he’s a quarterback guy — in the past, Matt Stafford, Joe Burrow, Derek Carr have put numbers up under him. Where has he had the biggest influence on you at this admittedly early point in your relationship together, and have you gotten a chance to dive into some of the things those other dudes did and get a sense of how he wants his quarterback to operate?
Yeah, mostly mechanically, I kind of handled everything with how I’m throwing the football on my own in the last few years, and kind of what I saw best and what I felt was most comfortable. And I actually took some advice from him with how I was moving and the base I was playing with that he saw, and just suggested to me that I went with and throughout OTAs played with, and had that time to just see if it was right for me, which I eventually did. And that was really cool to feel a head coach coming to me, as someone who’s seen a lot of guys throw the ball. I haven’t had a head coach, really, that understood the position in that way. And I was actually able to get into the physical machinations of what we’re doing. And for him to see that in me, suggest that switch, and for me to see results from it is really, really cool.
And then also just mentally, with reading defenses and trying to understand what our defense is doing, and how we can pinpoint the different ways that they’re trying to pressure us and what our answers are. [QB coach] Nick [Holz] is making sure that I’m ready when I get out there on Sunday to have that back pocket of certain things and answers that I have free will to initiate. And I’m working every day to continue to earn that confidence and to earn that respect for the head coach.
I want to look at your rookie year where you get inserted midway through, you had some super impressive moments, but as a rookie, you’re always going to have learning experiences. Where do you think the biggest way is that last year helped you become a starting NFL quarterback, whether that’s on or off the field?
I think I’ve got to point to our starter last year who started the season, Ryan Tannehill. He truly showed me what it was like to be a pro, and for those first few weeks where I wasn’t playing, I didn’t really know what I was doing, and if I was prepared enough, and I was really, every single time I had any questions as to how to handle myself, I always looked to him and understand what a professional quarterback looks like and how they prepare on a weekly basis. So, he helped me as much as anybody just by observing him, develop my routine and how I was able to prepare myself, because I kind of had that point, early in the season, where I didn’t feel like that. And then that second quarter of the season where I still wasn’t playing, ramping that side of things up and feeling more ready, even though I was third on the depth chart, was able to put me in a position to be ready when my name was called.
You went through something that a lot of young rookies go through where were fifth in the NFL in sack percentage. Obviously, a lot of stuff goes into that, but how does having the experience that you’ve gotten under your belt help you understand what to look for pre and post snap as you’re heading into your second year?
It only comes with reps, it really only does, that’s the only thing that’s gonna get you better at this position in this league. And I think that all the good plays and all the bad plays, even more so sometimes helped me and made me realize just what works in this league and what doesn’t. So, I think I’m gonna get more comfortable as I get more reps, training camp has been great for me, and I’m just looking forward to being a cleaner, more put together quarterback for my team this year.
We’re gonna move off the field for this one, I absolutely have to ask. There was that poker tournament you were in earlier this offseason where you just predicted the flop. What happened there, and how did you do that?
[laughs] I think I had, shoot, I want to I want to think it was like Ace-King versus King-Queen or something.
Yeah.
And I just wanted to win the hand, obviously, so I just tried to think of what an inconsequential flop would be for the hand, and I hadn’t done it all night. I think Bryce, who I was playing with, had spit it out a few times throughout the night just trying to predict it. And then on my first time predicting, I was like, 4-8-9, whatever, and that’s exactly what came down. I was like, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” And I won the hand, which is all that matters. But just a crazy coincidental thing, and poker is a game that I love and that I played for a long time, and that we play on a weekly basis here with my teammates. Never been able to play in an environment like that, and to go down to the wire and make it to the final table, that’s pretty sweet.
Is that the go to on a long flight? Are you more like a video game guy? Are you watching a movie? Are you watching film? What’s Will Levis doing on on the flight from Seattle to Tennessee or something?
I did a London to Nashville flight earlier this year, earlier this summer, and I’m definitely a movie guy, I like movies. I watched Oppenheimer for the second time, so that was nice to dial back in and see the things that I didn’t understand necessarily the first time. But studying, a little bit of reading, but I always, 100 percent, will catch myself for at least 20-30 minutes on the game section of the little TV in front of me, playing blackjack against the computer or whatever. There’s not a shortage of fun options on most airlines.
I appreciate you taking the time, Will, best of luck with everything this season.
Yeah, everyone go grab their Will Levis No. 8 at willlevisnumber8.com, $8, starting August 13, feel and smell like greatness, it’s gonna be awesome. Can’t wait for y’all to check it out.