Last week, free agent quarterback Cam Newton said he was willing to back up certain quarterbacks in the NFL, a list that includes Tennessee Titans quarterback and former third-round pick, Malik Willis. If he shows up in Tennessee, he won’t have to worry about backing him up.
The Tennessee Titans are reportedly doing their due diligence on the top four quarterbacks in the 2023 draft because of how they feel about Willis. On the latest “You Pod to Win the Game” podcast, NFL insider Charles Robinson revealed that the Titans may not be sold on the 23-year-old signal-callers potential just one year after taking him in the third round of the 2022 draft.
“I would just say the opinion of Mike Vrabel, and maybe the coaching staff, is that he’s much further away than maybe initially they might have thought when Malik Willis was drafted,” Robinson said. “Either that, or they just see a quarterback asset at the top of this draft that’s just a much better option, and maybe a quicker option than Malik Willis would be in terms of that overall development.”
Willis showed promise after he beat out Logan Woodside in training camp for the backup quarterback job behind Ryan Tannehill. However, when he got his chance to play, he was largely underwhelming. He struggled to read defenses and work through progressions.
Head coach Mike Vrable even benched him in the preseason because he was running too much and not throwing the ball enough. His benching came after a 17-yard scramble for a first down. Willis finished that game completing six of his 11 passes for 107 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions, adding 38 yards and a touchdown.
For the season, Willis completed just 50.8 percent of his passes for 276 yards and three interceptions, and he was passed over for Joshua Dobbs in Tennessee’s final two regular season games. He threw for a combined 135 yards with an interception in his only two starts. His two starts were a win over the Houston Texans and an overtime loss to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The Titans do not have a pick into the 11th selection, so if it is somebody that they want, they will need to make a big trade. Drafting a quarterback early in the 2023 NFL Draft would likely signal the end of Willis’ time in Tennessee.