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Last season, the Tennessee Titans took a shot on a talented yet raw quarterback out of Liberty in Malik Wills in the hopes of eventually unlocking his full potential.
Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go according to plan for the 2022 Titans, and Willis was eventually thrown into the deep end and forced to either sink or swim.
Now, whether that was fair or not is an entirely different conversation, but the reality is, the majority of the time it appeared as if Willis was in over his head.
It got to the point that by the end of the year and with Ryan Tannehill out for the season, Willis’ own team had opted to put their faith in a journeyman (Josh Dobbs) who had just signed with the team a week days prior.
Truth be told, that was probably the biggest indictment of Willis and how the Titans truly felt about his development at that time.
Fast forward to the Titans’ 2023 minicamp and it appears Willis is making strides.
In a recent mailbag article, Jim Wyatt of Titans Online was asked a question regarding Willis’ offseason work. A reader pointed out how Willis looked uncomfortable in the pocket last year, and he was curious as to whether or not there have been any noticeable improvements.
Here is what Wyatt had to say:
Malik did look uncomfortable in the pocket last year. I’ve seen improvement from him this off-season. I mentioned in Thursday’s minicamp observations he’s been more decisive this offseason, and he’s getting the ball out quicker as a result. I thought he had his best practice of the offseason on Thursday. Malik is still working through some inconsistencies, and his technique. But he’s making progress.
Despite all the hype that Willis once had, he was always a project quarterback.
The Liberty legend was never expected to be great in his first year due to the simple fact that his learning curve was so drastic. He wasn’t expected to see the field as a rookie, either, but due to the Titans’ circumstances at hand, he was thrown into the fire out of necessity.
A deep ball from Malik Willis to…Derrick Henry?
Sure. #Titans pic.twitter.com/zFxVXyyJZg
— Ramon Kayla & Will (@RamonKaylaWill) June 7, 2023
Therefore, as minor as these updates sound, this is a massive win for the Titans due to the fact that Willis is seemingly starting to operate like an actual NFL quarterback as opposed to being an athlete who passes the ball.
There’s no telling how this one will play out in the long run, but one thing is for certain: it will be a good problem for this franchise to have should Willis take that next step as a signal-caller and create a debate about the future of the franchise after Tennessee invested a pick in Will Levis.