The New York Jets signed former Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, a second-round draft pick in 2023, to their practice squad Tuesday, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press.
The Jets released quarterback Bailey Zappe from the practice squad to make room for Levis, the person told the AP on condition of anonymity because the team hadn't announced the signing.
The 27-year-old Levis worked out for the Jets earlier this month. He was released by the Titans last month as part of their final roster cuts.
New York has starter Geno Smith and rookie Cade Kubnik, a fourth-rounder, on its active roster, so Levis would be the third-string quarterback and inactive on game day unless he's promoted from the practice squad.
Levis, who missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery, said in August he thought he was still capable of being a starting quarterback in the NFL.
“There are not 32 quarterbacks in this league better than me,” Levis said. “I know that for sure.”
The former Kentucky star was taken with the second pick of the second round — 33rd overall — in 2023 after the Titans traded up to draft him.
He began his rookie season as the third-stringer behind starter Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis, but later started nine games. Levis entered the 2024 season as the starter, but missed three games and much of a fourth with a sprained AC joint in his right, throwing shoulder.
The Titans, with a new front office, drafted Cam Ward with the first overall pick in the 2025 draft — putting Levis' future with the franchise in doubt.
Levis is 5-16 as a starter with 3,899 yards passing, 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He also threw four pick-6s in 2024, the most for the franchise in a season since the then-Oilers relocated to Tennessee in 1997. Levis also had trouble with fumbles, losing five that season.
Zappe, who spent last season with Cleveland, signed with the Jets in the offseason, was among their final cuts last month and re-signed to the practice squad. He has started nine games in the NFL with the Browns and New England Patriots, who drafted him in the fourth round out of Western Kentucky in 2022. Zappe also has had two stints with Kansas City.
AP Pro Football Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
FILE - Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis warms up prior to a preseason NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Aug. 29, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
The Middle East is taking center stage at the United Nations General Assembly in New York as three years of wars across the region show no signs of letting up.
The conflict between the United States and Iran, fighting in Yemen and Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are high on speakers’ agendas.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has struggled to find an endgame to the Iran war after more than six months, said representatives of the two countries met after he issued a brash threat in his U.N. speech.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Full coverage is available here.
Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met shortly after he warned in his U.N. address that he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn't reached soon to end the war.
Trump told reporters that the talks took place but gave no details beyond describing “a very good meeting.” Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump is open to meeting with Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while he’s in New York for the General Assembly.
As an opening day of speeches got underway at the U.N., King Abdullah II of Jordan decried an “expansionist appetite” by Israel that he called “a regional threat.”
Abdullah equated the “destruction in Gaza and the de facto annexation of lands in the West Bank” to an “attempt to erase the Palestinian presence" and said Israel's goal was to make a Palestinian state “impossible.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a decision to deny Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a U.S. visa to attend the General Assembly an “injustice."
Erdogan urged all UN members to recognize Palestinian statehood. He called Gaza “the world’s largest graveyard for children” and the “most shameful concentration camp of our time.”
Pezeshkian struck a defiant note as he boarded a plane from Tehran to New York for the General Assembly, accusing the U.S. of doing “everything they can to block every possible route in order to force our nation and our people to surrender, because they were unable to do that through military means.”
Pezeshkian added that Iran is wary of another round of talks, having twice been attacked by the U.S. and Israel during active negotiations.
The regional Gulf Cooperation Council called for Iran and its allied groups to cease attacks on Arab Gulf states and allow free transit through two crucial maritime checkpoints.
Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, the council’s head, said disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have rattled oil markets and supply chains worldwide, triggering “worldwide fallout.” Iran has said it attacked U.S. bases in the region as part of its response to U.S.-Israeli strikes.
AlBudaiwi made the comments in a meeting with Swiss officials on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Trump is expected to meet representatives from the council on Tuesday in New York.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the Iran war along with the U.S. on Feb. 28, is also heading to New York for a brief trip, but is not expected to meet with Trump.
Netanyahu will be in New York for less than 24 hours, during which time Trump is scheduled to be in Washington for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Netanyahu is up for reelection at the end of October. In the past, he has boasted of his close ties with Trump, but that relationship appears to be deteriorating as the war drags on. A meeting with Trump could have bolstered Netanyahu’s image ahead of the vote.
Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N. on Thursday is expected to garner protests, both inside and outside of the U.N.
Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Silwad early Tuesday morning, throwing stones, breaking windows and damaging cars, Palestinians said, in the latest instance of violence in the occupied West Bank.
Their path of destruction was visible on Tuesday morning, with cars and livestock pens left damaged. Nimr Afif, a local shepherd, said he saw around 400 settlers come up from the valley below the town and attack his neighborhood before leaving with a stolen car and donkey.
Security camera footage from a Palestinian homeowner provided to The Associated Press showed Israeli settlers and soldiers gathered below Silwad. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions.
Such attacks have become increasingly common in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians report routine arson, livestock theft and attacks on homes in villages and towns.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - This image taken from video released by Al-Masirah TV, a channel owned by Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, shows medical workers beside the body of a man after attempts to treat him at a hospital. According to the channel, the man and two of his young children were killed in a Saudi airstrike on their house in Mokha, Taiz province, Yemen. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)
This image taken from video released by Al-Masirah TV, a channel owned by Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, shows a man at a hospital holding a child who, according to the channel, was wounded in a Saudi airstrike on a house in Mokha, Taiz province, Yemen. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at his Likud party New Year event in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The flag of the United Nations flies during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
A displaced Yemeni cooks at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
People pose as they arrive for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
