• Malik Willis, once traded for a late-round pick, is now a highly sought-after free agent quarterback.

  View more

Two seasons into his career, the Tennessee Titans were ready to cut him before deciding to ship Willis to the Green Bay Packers in a trade. In a league where young passers are the most prized commodities, the price to acquire him was as low as it gets: a pick in the last round of the draft.

But during his stint as a backup in Green Bay, Willis has managed to completely change the way the league thinks about him. In fact, the quarterback who was once worth next to nothing is about to be at the center of a bidding war.

Willis showed why NFL teams will soon be clamoring for his services last weekend, when he filled in for injured starter Jordan Love in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens. It was a performance that underlined how much he has evolved as a passer, and underlined that he is finally making good on the potential he flashed in college. 

And he’s doing it at the best possible time. Willis is set to be a free agent once this season ends, with plenty of teams desperate for answers at quarterback. 

“That’s what this league is about: being able to put good stuff on tape,” Willis said. “Somebody will take a chance then.” 

Ever since Willils’s college days, NFL teams have had a difficult time evaluating him. After playing sparsely at Auburn and then transferring to Liberty, he was seen as a possible first-round pick in the 2022 draft. But he wound up slipping all the way to the third before Tennessee scooped him up. 

While Willis was a tantalizing prospect because of his ability to run—he had 27 rushing touchdowns across two seasons at Liberty—there were doubts about his ability to become a reliable passer at the game’s top level. Against mostly weaker competition during his final year in college, he still threw 12 interceptions in 13 games. He looked especially exposed against top-shelf competition, throwing three picks in a game against Ole Miss. 

Those concerns were amplified by his rookie year in the NFL, which was nothing short of disastrous. Willis wound up starting three games and throwing three interceptions while completing just 50.8% of his passes without throwing a single touchdown. He barely played the next year, and the Titans dumped him just ahead of the 2024 season. At that stage, Willis had been sacked on 17.5% of his career dropbacks, the second-highest rate of any quarterback with at least 50 attempts in the past 30 years

“More than anything in Tennessee, I kind of got thrown in the fire,” Willis said. “I wouldn’t say I was ready yet.” 

In Green Bay, Willis would have some time to develop. With Love entrenched as the starter, there was no path to immediate playing time, but the Packers offered Willis the chance to learn under one of the game’s savviest offensive minds in coach Matt LaFleur. 

That was particularly valuable for a player who has conceded that he arrived in the league unprepared for the complexity of NFL defenses. And with LaFleur coaching him up, he has finally started to look like the quarterback evaluators thought he could become. Filling in for Love last year, Willis completed 74.1% of his throws with three touchdowns. He won both of his starts and didn’t throw a single pick. 

And as Love has missed time over the last couple of weeks with a concussion, Willis has taken his game to another level. He has completed an eye-popping 85.7% of his passes this year, including some highlight-reel deep throws. On one drive alone against Baltimore he completed a 40-yard toss and then another 39-yarder for a score. His performance also included two rushing scores. Importantly, he has also taken just three sacks all season.

His showing was so impressive that LaFleur felt compelled to squash any chatter about benching Love, the quarterback the team signed to a $220 million contract, in favor of Willis. 

“Jordan Love is playing some pretty high-level football, and it’s great that we feel the same about Malik,” LaFleur said. “It’s pretty clear that Jordan is our franchise quarterback, and when he’s healthy, he is going to be our starter.” 

For now, as LaFleur prepares for the playoffs, he has the privilege of feeling like he has two starting-caliber quarterbacks. But that’s unlikely to last for long—odds are that some other team will pay him handsomely to actually become their starter next year. 

Willis isn’t just entering free agency playing the best football of his life. He’s doing so when there’s a long list of teams expected to be in the market for a quarterback with few desirable options available. 

It’s a perfect storm of low supply and high demand—and it figures to earn Willis a fabulous payday.