Packer Central

Malik Willis Revenge Game? He’ll Start for Packers vs. Titans

Malik Willis, who was drafted by the Titans in 2022 and acquired by the Packers last month, will start in place of Jordan Love on Sunday against his former team. Is revenge on his mind?

Bill Huber

Malik Willis will start for the Packers at the Titans, his former team, on Sunday.
Malik Willis will start for the Packers at the Titans, his former team, on Sunday. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – It’s no surprise Malik Willis will be a starting quarterback on Sunday when the Green Bay Packers battle the Tennessee Titans.

The surprise is it’s with the Packers – he will start in place of Jordan Love for a second consecutive week – and not the team that drafted him.

Willis was projected as a potential first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Instead, Willis fell deep into the third round, when the Titans traded up to select him with the 86th overall pick.

“Good arm, athletic, moves around well. Got a really good skill-set,” then-Titans general manager Jon Robinson said at the time. “Throws a good ball. He is tough to tackle. He has a lot of work to do, obviously, like all the rookies do, but excited to add him to the team and compete. …

“I think his role will be determined by how quickly he comes in here and learns the offense and improves and gains the respect of his teammates. No different than any other player, they're going to earn opportunities, but he is a player that was just kind of staring at us there. We were excited that we were able to get up and get him and not get jumped.”

At the time, Ryan Tannehill had led the Titans to records of 11-5 in 2020 and 12-5 in 2021. So, not totally unlike Love being drafted behind Aaron Rodgers in 2020, the Titans selected Willis as a high-potential, developmental prospect who could become a quality starter.

It took less than a year for the Titans to determine Willis didn’t have the right stuff.

After Willis delivered three dismal starts as a rookie – he failed to throw a touchdown pass or reach 100 passing yards in any of those games – the Titans pounced on Will Levis with the first pick of the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft after he fell through the first round.

This offseason, they signed veteran Mason Rudolph in free agency. On Aug. 26 – exactly 27 days ago – they sent the former third-round pick to the Packers for a seventh-round pick.

“I think Malik earned the opportunity to have a chance to be the backup, whether it was here or somewhere else,” Titans GM Ran Carthon said after the trade “He fought his ass off while he was here and did everything we asked him to do.”

With Love set to be inactive again, the stage is set for the Malik Willis Revenge Game.

Well, not really.

“I could care less, man,” Willis said this week. “I think I got paid the whole time I was there. I’m more than blessed for the opportunities given me. They brought me into this league, whether those guys are there or not. That organization, they took a shot on me. They did a great job by me.”

Rodgers always wanted to show the 49ers they screwed up when they drafted Alex Smith ahead of him in 2005. Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson didn’t even play but got a game ball – a “petty game ball” – after Pittsburgh beat his former team, the Denver Broncos, last week.

However, there will be no emotions attached to Willis’ return to Nashville, he said.

“I’m good, bro. I woke up this morning (and) I’m blessed,” he said. “I have another opportunity to go and get better on and off the field, just continue this thing, give me an opportunity to work hard and get better. That’s all I can do with it.”

To call this the Malik Willis Revenge Game would be with tongue firmly planted in cheek, given how Willis handled it this week. Maybe, deep down, he is dying to show the Titans they should have given him more time to develop. But, at least for public consumption, Willis’ only focus was on getting ready for the team that’s on the schedule, not the team that gave up on him.

“It’s fluff. It’s for y’all to talk about,” he said. “We go play however many plays in a game and it comes to one or two very important plays that may be, and that’s how you win or lose a game and that’s what it is. But we leave all the other aspects to it for you guys, and that’s what it is.”

More Green Bay Packers News

This week’s big matchup | Malik Willis will start | Packers-Titans: Three reasons to worry | Packers-Titans: Three reasons for optimism | Elevated: Sean Clifford | Elevated: Robert Rochell | Josh Jacobs’ fumbling history | Jayden Reed and bait | Jordan Love questionable after practicing again | Does Vegas know something about Love? | NFC North power rankings | Eric Wilson, Edgerrin Cooper need more snaps | Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are “annoying” | Titans’ secondary will challenge Packers | High-priced QBs worth the money?

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.