Will Levis Arrival Could Mean End of the Road for Malik Willis and Titans
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans decided it was time to trade up and get their next young quarterback in this year's draft. They were rumored to be ready to move up in the first round and after that didn't materialize, the Titans made a move for Will Levis in a trade up with the Arizona Cardinals in the second round. Seeing the Titans be that committed to finding a new quarterback can't be a good sign for Malik Willis.
Then again, the writing may have been on the wall since the moment Josh Dobbs took Malik's job the last two weeks of 2022. We have seen reports this offseason that the Titans have "lost faith" in Willis. Putting those two pieces of evidence together and adding in the Levis selection makes it pretty obvious where the Titans are.
Is this fair to Willis? Probably not. It was known that Willis needed a redshirt season when he was drafted in 2022. Willis had barely taken a snap from under center to that point in his career let alone run an NFL offense with wordy play calls and an expansion playbook.
Willis not only had to improve his on-field skills, but also had a huge learning curve for the procedural aspects of being a professional quarterback. Makes for a harsh situation when you combine the failures of the Titans' offense in 2022.
The only problem is, life isn't fair. Malik Willis may develop into a professional quarterback one day. He may have progressed enough from the end of the season to now to keep a roster spot, but the odds are long.
The concern here is the Titans don't have the amount of time Willis needs to become whatever the best version of himself is. The other concern is whether Willis is so far away from the level he needs to get to, that any amount of development couldn't get him there.
The Titans are going to have one young quarterback on the roster that they will put their resources into. That quarterback is going to be Will Levis. The Titans are unlikely to keep three quarterbacks on the active roster all year. If they keep Tannehill and let him start, Levis will be the backup and Willis will be the odd man out. If the Titans part with Tannehill and start Levis, they will need an experienced backup behind Levis, similar to what they wanted with Dobbs, to be a veteran in the room.
Neither of those scenarios lead to the Titans keeping Willis on the roster. If Willis clears waivers, the Titans could bring him back on the practice squad to try and keep working with him. He may want a fresh environment at that point though and who could blame him.
Also, this probably won't need to be decided until after training camp when cut down day happens or until the Titans break up with Tannehill. Regardless of the timing, there are few paths remaining that include Willis in the Titans' future. Even if Mike Vrabel said Willis is currently second on the depth chart above Levis, it is rather obvious Levis will be more likely to start in 2023 than be QB3. The reality is, barring a Levis injury, this is probably the end of the road for Willis and the Titans.
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