Trading for Malik Willis

[OldSchool101]

Many of the vet QB's cut are now FA's and won't have to clear waivers. Right now, I like Willis better than the other QB's I've seen released and for a 7th rounder, not a bad deal, plus we get him for 2 years on his rookie contract ($1,290,025/year). Guessing guys like Peterman and Rypien would want more.

Also. Wouldn’t his guaranteed already be satisfied?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Also. Wouldn’t his guaranteed already be satisfied?

Willis's guarantees? Yes, by the Titans. The only guarantee that the Packers have to satisfy is his current $1.174M/year, if he is on the 53 after 3 pm today.

Not sure which number is right now lol I know I said $1,290,025/year in an earlier post. Maybe Spotrac updated it since?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

This all reminds me of the 2013 season when TT discarded all three backup QBs from camp at cut-downs. He then brought in Seneca Wallace and Scott Tolzien the week before the season began. Neither had experience in our offense. Of course, Rodgers broke his collarbone, Wallace got hurt, and Tolzien sucked. We eventually had to bring back Matt Flynn to save the season.

TT vowed to not make the same mistake again at the backup QB position. I won't call Gutekunst's cuts of Clifford and Pratt a mistake unless he fails to bring one of them back onto the practice squad. There is no way that Willis could possibly ready to come in and win a game this season. He won't know the playbook. For better or worse, he needs Clifford or Pratt there for backup and to help Willis learn the offense. He won't get any meaningful snaps until the offseason.

Yeah, I doubt that they don't bring Clifford back. Not that he has all that much experience, but yes, at least he knows the playbook and has some established chemistry with the offense.

 

[gopkrs]

Yeah, I doubt that they don't bring Clifford back. Not that he has all that much experience, but yes, at least he knows the playbook and has some established chemistry with the offense.

why wouldn't they bring back Pratt instead?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

why wouldn't they bring back Pratt instead?

If I had to guess, experience and long term they think Clifford is the better guy.

Remember, most of what we say of Pratt was against 3-5 deep players on other defenses.

I am also leaning that way based on Bill Huber saying "inside sources" say they will sign Clifford to the P.S.

In case you missed the article where I read that....

Packers Release Sean Clifford, Michael Pratt After Acquiring Malik Willis

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have released quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt, sources told Packers on SI, as part of their 53-man roster c

www.si.com

 

[OldSchool101]

He’d be a security blanket. After all he’s been in that playbook for over a year now. Malik would look like Christian McCaffrey playing QB for several weeks if somehow thrust in a live game.
As far as Clifford and Pratt are concerned they are relative equals, but the tiebreaker goes to experience. 5 year starter and 2 years in playbook

 

[PikeBadger]

I don't think Willis will be very functional until the middle of October. He isn't going to learn this offense overnight.

 

[Sanguine camper]

He is the #2. There will not be a competition. They didn't trade for him to put on the practice squad. My guess is that they have given up on Clifford and Pratt is going to the practice squad.

He's the no 2 for now but what I implied is that he's not very far above whoever they keep as no 3 on the practice squad. I doubt he is locked into the no 2 if he comes in and reminds everybody of Deshon Kizer.

 

[McKnowledge]

I think Malik Willis is an upgrade over Pratt and Clifford.

It would be great see Willis mimic a Tyrod Taylor-type of career arc.

Clifford should be added to the practice squad due to familiarity within the organization; he's just not ready for the QB2 role.

I think he will be an ideal practice squad QB...reps are reps...

 

[OldSchool101]

-According to NBC Sports. Malik Willis ran a 4.37 40-yard time while at Auburn.

-During the 2021 season. Malik Willis recorded 90 broken Tackles. That was 1 more than Michigan State RB Kenneth Walker III, but Malik did so with 66 less carries.

-The former Titans QB forced missed Tackles on 60% if his runs.

-Malik tied Lamar Jackson for the “most missed tackles” recorded since 2014.

-Highest rate of Big-time throws since 2015
Malik Willis 11.0% (2021)
Josh Allen 10.6% (2015)

-Willis set the Senior Bowl records for “Air speed” (75.7MPH) and
“Initial Air-Speed” 51.1MPH

 

[OldSchool101]

The talented gunslinger finished his collegiate career after accounting for 7,307 total yards and 77 total touchdowns in 23 career starts.

5,112 Passing
2.263 Rushing

His Bowl games record? 3-0

 

[PikeBadger]

why wouldn't they bring back Pratt instead?

Why not both?

 

[RicFlairoftheNFL]

I think Malik Willis is an upgrade over Pratt and Clifford.

It would be great see Willis mimic a Tyrod Taylor-type of career arc.

Clifford should be added to the practice squad due to familiarity within the organization; he's just not ready for the QB2 role.

I think he will be an ideal practice squad QB...reps are reps...

Clifford I would agree on...I'D be an upgrade over what I saw of Clifford this preseason. I don't know if he's an upgrade over Pratt because I haven't seen Willis though, and I did like what I saw of Pratt against the Ravens

 

[Thirteen Below]

-Willis set the Senior Bowl records for “Air speed” (75.7MPH) and
“Initial Air-Speed” 51.1MPH

That's a confusing stat; at first glance, it doesn't seem to make sense.

I would assume "air speed" is fairly simple - how fast did the ball travel?

But "initial air speed"... logic suggests that it measures how fast the ball was traveling when it left the QB's hand.

However, if it only left the passer's hand at 51 MPH, where did it pick up the extra 50% of the energy that boosted it to 75 MPH?

Some of these metrics seem to be the sort of thing my wife would cook up for no other reason than to make life a hell of a lot more complicated than it needs to be. This one... I can get this mental image of her drawing it up on a white board and going over it and over and over
again.

The talented gunslinger finished his collegiate career after accounting for 7,307 total yards and 77 total touchdowns in 23 career starts.

5,112 Passing
2.263 Rushing

His Bowl games record? 3-0

I think I kinda like this guy.

 

[Thirteen Below]

As I hinted at in the team tracking thread - we are trading for Malik Willis

You deserve major credit for that, because the work you've done over the years earning the respect of the people who trusted you enough to share this information is what made it possible to give us all a headsup. Not msny people who can do that.

You deserve a ton of respect for being in a position to do that.

 

[Krabs]

He's the no 2 for now but what I implied is that he's not very far above whoever they keep as no 3 on the practice squad. I doubt he is locked into the no 2 if he comes in and reminds everybody of Deshon Kizer.

Agreed. If Love goes down I do not have faith in whatever backup is in at the time. Whether it is Willis or Clifford, the Pack would be in trouble. I can't remember who it was on here, but they explained that Willis will be a healthy scratch for the first 2-3 weeks and Clifford will be elevated from the practice squad as the #2. This makes total sense to me. Kizer is also a good comparison. I would say that I think Willis is more athletic that Kizer. Regardless, agreed.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Agreed. If Love goes down I do not have faith in whatever backup is in at the time. Whether it is Willis or Clifford, the Pack would be in trouble. I can't remember who it was on here, but they explained that Willis will be a healthy scratch for the first 2-3 weeks and Clifford will be elevated from the practice squad as the #2. This makes total sense to me. Kizer is also a good comparison. I would say that I think Willis is more athletic that Kizer. Regardless, agreed.

That was me, and while I fully agree with the logic, I read it online in an article that Bill Huber wrote. Now it was me that came up with the Kizer comparison. Let's hope Willis works out better than Kizer. However, as I also said, I am just fine with not seeing Willis play, unless its a Packer blowout or it is in the 2025 Preseason.

We're Riding With Love!

 

[OldSchool101]

It’s a good thing that, even after all the questionably talk about Willis..
like it’s Gary Coleman Day..
I can STILL thankfully say..
..
Love is in the Air, everywhere I look around.. I don’t know if I’m being Foolish.. but it’s something I must believe in.. and I can see it when I look in your eyes

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[Curly Calhoun]

I haven't seen a lot of Willis, but I am somewhat intrigued after reading this:

— Willis is a dynamic athlete with a big arm, giving him rare tools at the quarterback position. Obviously, further development is required. But from a talent standpoint, the Packers upgraded in a big way. Willis has plus athleticism as a runner and a big-time arm — two attributes Clifford and Pratt mostly lack. In his pre-draft report, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com said Willis has “elite rushing talent and a rocket-launching right arm.”

— The Packers couldn’t sit around and wait for Clifford or Pratt to figure it out on the fly. This is a proactive move to attempt to fix a glaring roster hole for a contender ahead of the 2024 season.

— If he can pick up the offense, Willis could be a tremendous fit in Matt LaFleur’s run-action, vertical-based passing attack. With Love locked up long-term, the Packers have time to develop Willis in the system.

— Willis had a strong preseason in 2024, completing 20 of 27 passes and rushing for 101 yards. He hit a couple of big plays (2-for-2 on passes of 20 or more yards) and had four runs of 10 or more yards. Is the light starting to come on?

— Given his athleticism and strength as a runner, Willis gives the Packers a brand new dynamic at the quarterback position. As noted by Andy Herman, Green Bay faces Jalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson early in the regular season, so Willis’ skillset will provide immediate preparation value on the practice field.

Pros and cons of Packers trading for QB Malik Willis

The Green Bay Packers are changing course at backup quarterback behind Jordan Love. After uninspiring summers from second-year quarterback Sean Clifford and rookie Michael Pratt, the Packers swung …

packerswire.usatoday.com

 

[OldSchool101]

I haven't seen a lot of Willis, but I am somewhat intrigued after reading this:

— Willis is a dynamic athlete with a big arm, giving him rare tools at the quarterback position. Obviously, further development is required. But from a talent standpoint, the Packers upgraded in a big way. Willis has plus athleticism as a runner and a big-time arm — two attributes Clifford and Pratt mostly lack. In his pre-draft report, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com said Willis has “elite rushing talent and a rocket-launching right arm.”

— The Packers couldn’t sit around and wait for Clifford or Pratt to figure it out on the fly. This is a proactive move to attempt to fix a glaring roster hole for a contender ahead of the 2024 season.

— If he can pick up the offense, Willis could be a tremendous fit in Matt LaFleur’s run-action, vertical-based passing attack. With Love locked up long-term, the Packers have time to develop Willis in the system.

— Willis had a strong preseason in 2024, completing 20 of 27 passes and rushing for 101 yards. He hit a couple of big plays (2-for-2 on passes of 20 or more yards) and had four runs of 10 or more yards. Is the light starting to come on?

— Given his athleticism and strength as a runner, Willis gives the Packers a brand new dynamic at the quarterback position. As noted by Andy Herman, Green Bay faces Jalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson early in the regular season, so Willis’ skillset will provide immediate preparation value on the practice field.

Pros and cons of Packers trading for QB Malik Willis

The Green Bay Packers are changing course at backup quarterback behind Jordan Love. After uninspiring summers from second-year quarterback Sean Clifford and rookie Michael Pratt, the Packers swung …

packerswire.usatoday.com

In all seriousness. I can see him being a really good complimentary #2 QB. This system has QB options sprinkled in and that can be accentuated to fit Malik’s style.
Again, he’s got one of the best QB coaches in the NFL now working with him. Clements and our staff will not only prepare him for our playbook. I think they’ll design those plays best suited for Malik’s style until he gets acclimated to the full array of possibilities. In the meantime they will help him focus on his Defensive Reads, Footwork and other area where he needs refinement.

Malik is probably NOT the perfect fit if we were looking for a long term QB1 in this system, so he may have never been drafted by us. However for a later 7th we get our shot at further developing a QB with Top 10 overall upside. We also get him on essentially a 2yr X 2.5Mil contract, which is peanuts. I think he’s going to be an ideal #2 inside the 2024 season.

This was a sneaky good move by our GM. Hes a steal for a 7th rounder

PS. btw, his career college Pass % is a tick above a good comparison in Kizer (+1.5%). Si he’s just as good or better accuracy. Yet his arm power is better and his ability to scramble is nearly 200% more productive than Kizer. There’s no comparison when scrambling.
In some ways, Malik reminds me of young Russell Wilson but a “Turbo” version when he scrambles. Very elusive lateral ability, but with better 4.4 speed. In the college film I’ve since watched, when he sees daylight between Defenders he’s a real threat running. He runs by players like they’re standing still. He’s also 6’1X220lbs so he’s low center

 

[Thirteen Below]

I just can't understand what hapened to Clifford this pre-season. He had a substantially better pre-season in 2023 than he did in 24; where did that all go? He just looked lost out there, and showed not only no improvement over the previous pre-season, but no game-to-game inmprovement either.

Last year, he had nothing to lose, because everyone knew it was Jordan Love's team and Clifford was just the backup and developmental protege. This year, he was competing with Pratt, and he folded like a wet paper towel. Where were Tom Clements and Sean Mannion all month? There was nothing they could do to get him back on track? Was he too busy building his NIL agency and sports agent business to do his off-season work?

I'm really disappointed. I was expecting a lot more from him; had very, very high hopes in fact. I was never expecting him to take such a huge step backward.

 

[gopkrs]

Why not both?

imo it would be a distraction

 

[swhitset]

Why not both?

When is the last time you saw the Packers keep 4 QBs

 

[OldSchool101]

When is the last time you saw the Packers keep 4 QBs

Yeah I can’t imagine holding that many QB’s. Teams are more likely to keep 2 QB’s than 4 QB’s. Brian said in a very recent interview that he considered it, but he thought the overlap would not allow the proper # of reps for that 4th guy. I just thought that was an interesting take.

Gutey also mentioned that his decision to move on from Pratt wasn’t as much to do with Pratt. They had an opportunity to add Willis and he said he really liked he can win with BOTH his arm and legs. It wasn’t so much that Pratt was bad as it was Willis had looked like an ascending player.

 

[PikeBadger]

imo it would be a distraction

A distraction? Competition is a distraction?
I think Clifford would likely serve as the backup until they have a better idea about Willis while keeping Pratt on the practice squad.