Despite being selected in the third round of the 2022 draft, Malik Willis isn’t a lock to make the Titans roster. While Jim Wyatt of the team’s website believes the quarterback will ultimately make the squad, he cautions that the “roster spot isn’t guaranteed.”
The Titans drafted Willis as more of a long-term project instead of a definitive successor to Ryan Tannehill, but the Liberty product was thrown into the fire as a rookie. Willis ended up going 1-2 in his three starts, completing 50.8 percent of his passes for 276 and three interceptions. He also added 123 rushing yards and one touchdown on 27 attempts.
Tannehill struggled through injuries and saw a drop in production in 2022, but the Titans will bring him back for at least one more season in 2023. At one time, the organization likely envisioned Willis stepping into a full-time role for the 2024 campaign, but things quickly changed during this past year’s draft.
Will Levis fell out of the first round, and the Titans made a move to acquire the No. 33 pick and select the Kentucky quarterback. Levis is now the clear future at the position for the Titans, leaving Willis on the outside looking in. Coach Mike Vrabel previously labeled Willis as his QB2 and the rookie as QB3, but it now sounds like the second-year quarterback will be fighting for his roster spot.
Passing game coordinator Tim Kelly and quarterbacks coach Charles London reportedly are not sold on Willis, and even with the new rule that provides an extra roster spot for a third QB, Wyatt thinks the 24-year-old will have to earn his way on the team. On the flip side, Wyatt also thinks Willis looked better than Levis during minicamp, and the writer is more confident now than he was before that the team will ultimately carry all three quarterbacks.
Fortunately for the Titans, it doesn’t sound like Willis is distracted by his uncertain roster status.
“I don’t really get into all that,” Willis said (via NFL.com). “I just try to go to work every day. … It’s a results-based business. It doesn’t matter what I think, it doesn’t matter what you think, it just is. I am just focusing on what I can control.”
Malik made it. He’s in the league. Maybe he bounces around for 7 some years, but darn good money! He came across as a solid dude during last offseason leading up to the draft.
Over-hyped draft bust, happens every year.
I’m still curious why the titans drafted him. They could have gotten another RB threat or added WR depth. Mike doesn’t even seem to like him or Levis so far lmao
I’m still curious to where the hype came from.
the guy is small, terrible numbers at liberty. and not even game changing speed or anything.
just a really random dude that got hype
I think it was the cupcake competition he played against at liberty before they switched conferences. He was making amazing runs and deep balls against Walmart A&M, Dollar Store Community College & McDonalds Tech
At least he went in the third round, SF took Lance 3rd overall when he should’ve been taken in the 3rd round as well.
Lance would be a top 10 QB if not for the injuries.
that’s the difference..
Willis was 7th round talent that got a lot of unwarranted hype
He’s not even top 10 in his division. Lance would be QB5 in SF if not trying to justify his draft positioning. They have to keep trotting him out there when able, even if he’s in way over his head.
He was a third rounder. Therefore not a bust by definition
Yes he is, if you WASTE a 3rd round pick on an over hyped player that turns out to be complete crap then yes that is a 3rd round draft bust. Therefore a bust by definition. A draft bust doesn’t necessarily have to be a player that goes in the 1st round. Some media clowns had this guy projected to go in the first round and sense some people were actually shocked that he didn’t go sooner is the definition of over-hyped.
You think 1st rounders are the only ones that can bust?
What if you trade up to be the 1st team selecting on night number 2, then that player doesn’t pan out, you do not think that would be considered a 2nd round draft bust?
(Oh my gosh how did this guy not go 1st round! This was a great steal for him to fall all the way to the 3rd round!) Type of thinkers and believers sure didn’t age very well lol
He’s played four games lol. It hasn’t aged at all.
Those 4 games he looked completely overwhelmed, lost, and awful. He’s a backup best case, and that isn’t even a guarantee. Someone who costs less and plays better in camp and preseason is going to beat him for that job potentially.
The Titans have wasted a lot of picks in this championship window
Hence the new GM.
Exactly.
I think they got a stud in this Will Levis
maybe not on a Josh Allen level, but I do think Levis will be their franchise QB for a while
I think we will be as well
They’re not in that window anymore. Probably why the GM got fired.
At the same time, that GM also built all of their success in his tenure, through multiple coaches and multiple schemes-all without a single losing season, despite taking over a bottom half franchise. It’s a curious dichotomy.
I definitely think he should get another job. He probably just stayed there too long because he started making some goofy picks. However, early on, he built a championship level team, but Mariotta never developed correctly, especially after Vrabel got hired. Coaching staff has to take some of te blam too though. Brown looked better than he ever did under Vrabel’s staff his first year with the Eagles. Ultimately, hiring Todd Downing probably closed their window because he was not a good coordinator in Oakland and definitely shouldn’t have gotten another OC job.
I agree. Downing was not impressive. Ownership may deny that the Brown deal was did Robinson in, but I don’t see how it wasn’t at least a factor. Robinson is hard to evaluate-he managed to build a good core and culture, and yet missed on the final pieces. He deserves credit for bringing in Tannehill as an established player, but whiffed on Willis. Still, firing him midseason was probably not the best way to go about it. We’ll see how Carthon does, but he’s already showing signs of wanting to reconstruct the roster in a different style altogether.
I think it was the classic pick coach or GM, and they picked the coach, and the Brown trade made it the easy choice, especially after he was having such a great season. I don’t think Robinson did anything to get fired though. GMs have done way worse, and he’s better than 80% of the ones with jobs. Carthon has a rep as one of the two brains behind the 49er operation along with Adam Peters while Lynch is the public face. We’ll see if that’s true for Carthon because Peters is still there.
Your probably right I was never a big fan. However he looked as good or better than plenty really good QBs. Steve Young was really bad for example.
If I had a nickel for every pundit and commenter who said last year that the Steelers blew it by taking Pickett instead of Willis, I’d have a lot of nickels. And the Steelers would be starting Mitch Trubisky.
I’m hoping Kenny pans out, @Monkey’sUncle. I watched the kid progress at Pitt and think he has the components to be a good NFL QB and like you, thought the Steelers made a good pick
Shame that the OC here didn’t allow him to be the QB that would have the rest of the league’s fandom see what he can do. Hope this season is different
Those folks sure are hard to get to comment on the subject these days…
Seems like the Steelers were the source of those rumors about liking Willis to make sure Pickett fell to them. Because I never believed it, but pundits hate to be wrong after they get played by a team that’s feeding them stuff.
I know I can’t believe he led them in to the playoffs to the a f c championship game
They’re still going to be looking for a QB after they move on from Tannehill. Two wasted top 75 picks.
Levis = Tebow light
There were mock drafts that had Willis going as high as second overall.
Yeah, but I think they were using the other definition for mock.
Remember when they tried forcing this dude down our throats as a top 10 pick lol he always sucked
How funny that we always recognize that top 10 bust – but never recognize the media’s most over-hyped player.
If you don’t consume that stuff, you can. The media has hyped people like him, Davis Webb, etc. They also started hyping Mahomes late in that 2018 draft. I also remember them having Gabbert over Newton in their draft. I think it’s just a symptom of that they don’t know much and regurgitate what they’re told. I have my own eyes, so I don’t really care what else anyone else thinks. It’s like this year, they all collectively glummed onto that Young was too small, and three and four years ago, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield were fine when they’re worse players but slightly bigger. Very slightly bigger.
Loved how some YouTube content creators were yelling for their team to draft Willis. However, they only saw what they wanted and didn’t see the behind the scenes stuff. Willis is not football smart. He had trouble understanding coverages, play calling and basically got by in college by his athletic talent. It’s a reason why he had to transfer to Liberty and didn’t dominate there.
It’s the same thing we are starting to see with Kyler Murray. Why else would a team put in a contract that he must study the game plan and playbook a certain amount of hours per week? These players got by in college by their talent, but in the NFL every player is exceptional and to succeed you need to do the little things to be better.
Sorry, but football isn’t complicated, and what are you talking about not understand coverages in college? None of these players understand anything they’re going to see in the NFL in college. Auburn’s offense was mostly one read and run under Gus. Freeze’s offense is similar but more throwing. The reason he got hype is because he did put up numbers in Freeze’s offense. I just never saw an NFL QB there is all, but I doubt it has anything to do with him understanding football concepts. That’s something people who don’t understand themselves throw around because it’s not complicated.