GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers believe Malik Willis’ solid production this preseason offers a better indication of his potential than his rather pedestrian regular-season statistics.
Green Bay acquired Willis from the Tennessee Titans this week to back up starting quarterback Jordan Love. The 2022 third-round pick from Liberty now must learn a new offense before the Packers open their season Sept. 6 against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“It definitely caught me by surprise,” Willis said. “More than anything, you just take it (for) what it is. Quick turnaround, and the season’s starting. There’s no more lounging around and kind of getting ready for the season.”
Willis, 25, started three games as a rookie two years ago and didn’t reach 100 passing yards in any of them. Willis, who entered the NFL as a much more polished runner than passer, has completed 53% of his career throws with three interceptions and no touchdown passes.
But he completed 74.1% of his passes (20 of 27) for 205 yards with two touchdowns and one interception this preseason. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst noted Willis’ willingness to go through his progressions and make the right decisions on when to run and when to stay in the pocket.
“It’s a short sample size in the preseason, but I thought he did a nice job,” Gutekunst said.
Tennessee considered Willis expendable after signing veteran Mason Rudolph to back up Will Levis, though Titans general manager Ran Carthon noted the progress that the former Liberty quarterback had made.
“But when it came down to it, Mason had a better offseason and a better preseason and helped move our offense down the field,” Carthon said. “When it ultimately came down to it, we talk about taking care of people and doing what’s right for our guys. And when Green Bay called and we knew that Malik had an opportunity to be the backup, which we feel he deserved, it wasn’t necessarily about the compensation. It was just doing right by Malik and giving him that opportunity.”
Green Bay had 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford and rookie seventh-round selection Michael Pratt competing for the right to serve as Green Bay’s No. 2 quarterback. The Packers cut Clifford and Pratt, but they’ve since added Clifford to their practice squad.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur downplayed the notion that his indirect ties to new Titans coach Brian Callahan could help Willis learn the new offense more quickly. Callahan was an assistant at Cincinnati under Zac Taylor, who worked with LaFleur on Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams staff.
“I thought it would be more similar,” LaFleur said. “It doesn’t sound like it’s really that way. Just obviously Zac and I worked together in LA with Sean, and then Callahan working with Zac the last, what was it, five years in Cincinnati. But it doesn’t sound like (it’s similar). It sounds like it’s a little bit different.”
LaFleur said his own connections to the Titans might provide more assistance. LaFleur was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in 2018. Arthur Smith had the job the next two years. Todd Downing took over in 2021 and eventually became Willis’ first offensive coordinator.
“So there was a little bit of crossover there in terms of some of the terminology and some of the things they were asking him to do,” LaFleur said. “He’s going to have to reframe it in terms of, a lot of these teams are doing a lot of similar things, you just might call it something different. So it’s like learning a new language.”
Willis has grown accustomed to change. He already is working with his fourth different offensive coordinator as he begins his third season. Tennessee had Downing as offensive coordinator in 2022 and Tim Kelly in that role last season before Nick Holtz took over this year.
Willis sees enough similarities between his former team and current one to help him adjust once more.
“I feel there’s definitely some crossover as far as what we were doing this year with Callahan and even before that with what we were doing my rookie year just as far as terms and the build of it goes, and the type of system it is,” Willis said. “I think I’ll get more familiar with it as we go.”
There are other connections as well. Willis and Love share the same agent in David Mulugheta. Willis and Packers safety Xavier McKinney were teammates at Roswell (Georgia) High School.
Willis can lean on those ties while making sure he’s ready if called upon early in the season.
“This is what it is,” Willis said. “There’s no time to really think about it. It’s time to go.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.
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