The Tennessee Titans traded quarterback Malik Willis to the Green Bay Packers for a 2025 seventh-round pick.
That’s… not a great return for a QB in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. However, the Titans appear to be all in on Will Levis, who they drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The writing should have been on the wall for Willis then. He had so much hype surrounding him before the 2022 NFL Draft before falling into the third round. While he never lived up to that hype, he also never really received a fair shake.
Willis appeared in just 11 games during two seasons for the Titans, who were wandering the desert of quarterbacks. They moved on from Ryan Tannehill but never gave Willis the full confidence that Levis received. The former Auburn Tiger only started three games in Nashville.
But a fresh opportunity is on the horizon for Willis, who was decent in the preseason for the Titans.
The Packers backup quarterback situation was abysmal. Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt were competing to back up Jordan Love, who became the NFL’s highest-paid player in history before the preseason kicked off.
The Packers are a QB factory. They pivoted off of Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Then Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. Willis won’t be replacing Love any time soon, but both Packers quarterbacks are just 25 years old, share a playing style, and fit into Matt LaFleur’s offensive scheme very well.
This trade gives Green Bay more of a fun project than a serviceable backup. Ironically, all of the veteran backup quarterbacks, besides Tannehill, are spoken for. If Clifford or Pratt had to see serious playing time, the Packers season would be lost.
If Willis had to play a significant number of snaps, the Packers would still be in a world of hurt. But it would at least be fun, and maybe they could catch lightning in a bottle with a promising prospect who just hasn’t had a fair shake in the NFL yet.
Also, the Titans can’t be blamed here. It’s not like Willis showed them much of anything. In those 11 games he played? Zero touchdowns. Three interceptions. The NFL is a league predicated heavily on results, and those results simply aren’t those of a rosterable quarterback.
The Titans will roll with Mason Rudolph as their backup behind Levis. That goes to show how much they believe in Levis heading into this year.
Let’s not kid ourselves, though. The AFC is packed. Quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and maybe even Aaron Rodgers will continue to dominate the playoff picture.
