Malik Willis Needs 'Change of Scenery' per CBS Sports' Trapasso, Offers Five Trade Spots

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans will be starting Ryan Tannehill at quarterback in 2023, but they also traded up in the second round to select Will Levis in the 2023 NFL Draft. If the Titans keep only two quarterbacks this year, that could leave 2022 third-rounder Malik Willis as the odd man out.

If that happens, the Titans may be interested in trading Malik Willis. According to CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso, Willis needs a "change of scenery" and Trapasso even suggested five teams Willis could land with that would make sense.

The five teams were the Washington Commanders, New York Giants, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. All teams that could reasonably be interested in taking a low-risk flier on Willis as their own quarterback situations, even outside of the starters, aren't set in stone long term.

The Titans would certainly love the opportunity to recoup some 2024 draft picks after losing three of them in recent trades for Ugo Amadi, Dennis Daley and Levis. Most of their ability to do so will depend on how Willis plays in the preseason.

Interestingly enough though, all five of the teams are in the NFC. In theory, if Willis pans out for a new team, at least the Titans won't have to play him regularly, but that brings up a more important question the Titans would have to answer before entertaining this, if Willis plays well enough to trade, should you just keep him?

The Titans may be bullish on rookie Will Levis. After all, they traded up to select him while having Tannehill and Willis on the roster, but is he really such a slam-dunk future starter that you can risk trading away a version of Malik Willis that has a good preseason this year?

With reports out of organized team activities that Willis had performed better than Levis may be fool's gold when we look back after the preseason, but if they aren't and the trend continues in training camp, the Titans would be crazy to ship off Willis.

It may look bad that the first quarterback drafted during the Mike Vrabel-Ran Carthon era, the quarterback they trade up for with Tannehill and Willis still in tow, got beat out by Willis, who struggled mightily last year. However, at that point, the Titans' brass must put their pride aside and let Willis continue to develop.

While it would be nice for Vrabel and Carthon to be correct about Levis, it is more important that the Titans find someone who can lead their team in the future. Whether that is Willis or Levis shouldn't matter.

Maybe Willis plays well and there is a trade a market for his services, but the risk of trading him in that scenario is so high that it most likely outweighs the reward of a trade. The Titans may consider it, Willis may need that change of scenery, but it would be a roll of the dice either way and a double-down on Levis.

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