The Green Bay Packers may have found their backup quarterback. On Monday, the Packers swung a trade with the Tennessee Titans to acquire Malik Willis.
The Packers traded a 2025 seventh-round draft pick in exchange for the young signal-caller, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Prior to acquiring Willis, Green Bay had Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt as the backups to Jordan Love, but now, Willis will likely slide into the No. 2 spot.
Willis, who played his collegiate football at Auburn and Liberty, was originally selected by the Titans in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
He generated some buzz during his rookie campaign, enough to actually earn eight appearances and three starts. However, Willis certainly did not make the most of his outings, throwing for 276 yards and three touchdowns while completing just 50.8 percent of his passes.
Last year, the 25-year-old barely got any playing time at all, throwing a grand total of five passes. He completed four of them.
Despite Willis’ lack of success on the NFL level thus far, there are some who like him going forward.
The College Park, Ga. native is very athletic and has obvious dual-threat capabilities, which could allow the Packers to feature him in some interesting sets.
It’s also entirely possible that Willis could build up some value in order for Green Bay to potentially trade him elsewhere for more draft capital in the future.
Of course, Willis is every bit as unproven as Clifford and Pratt. He just has somewhat of a larger name—and better draft positioning—attached to him.
It’s still somewhat surprising that the Packers did not pursue a veteran quarterback like Ryan Tannehill, who remains unsigned. Funny enough, Tannehill and Willis were teammates in Tennessee.
You never want to use your backup quarterback aside from blowouts, but it’s still nice to have that insurance back there in case of an injury.
Love led the Packers to nine wins and a playoff appearance during his first full season as the club’s starter last season. He even guided them to an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card Round.
For that reason, Love is a trendy MVP pick heading into 2024, and the Green Bay Packers are largely viewed as dark horse Super Bowl contenders.
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