With quarterback Jordan Love out with an MCL sprain, third-year quarterback Malik Willis is stepping into his spot as the Green Bay Packers' QB1.
While the Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay’s Week 2 opponent, don’t have an all-world defense, Packers fans shouldn’t expect much from Willis, the Tennessee Titans castoff who will be making just his fourth career start on Sunday.
Part of the reason the Titans were so eager to part with Willis is because in his two seasons with the team, he didn’t show much improvement. The 25-year-old was just 1-2 as a starter in Tennessee in 2022, and he lost his job to journeyman Joshua Dobbs at the end of the season.
Willis lost the backup job to rookie Will Levis last season, and with Levis stepping into the starter role this year, the Titans shipped Willis to Green Bay after signing Mason Rudolph to be their No. 2.
Now prepping for his first start in over a year, head coach Matt LaFleur suggested the team is planning to simplify the playbook to make the transition for Willis easier.
“He's got to communicate to us, let us know where he's at,” LaFleur said, via NFL.com. “Certainly, we'll go through it and comb it at the end of the week, probably 'X' out some things if he's not very comfortable with it, and star the things he really likes.”
In his three career starts, Willis barely completed 50% of his passes, and averaged just 92 yards passing per game with three combined interceptions and a 42.8 passer rating.
Willis’ struggles in his three starts are even more confounding considering he was given an average of 3.52 seconds to throw while in Tennessee — well above the NFL average of 2.78 seconds — and he had the ninth-highest percentage of pressures that resulted in sacks (26.8%), per Pro Football Focus.
Fortunately for Willis, the Packers offensive line is miles better than the Titans O-line was during either of his two seasons (they allowed just two sacks, nine pressures and six hurries last week), and the Liberty alum claims to have learned and grown from his past mistakes.
“I've only played three games and I was a rookie,” Willis stated, via the team's official site. “Call it what you want to ... I wasn't ready yet, but I had to go in. I'm a different player than then. It's not about what you know, it's about what you can prove on the field. You know what I mean?”
