Malik Willis is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. He played college football at Auburn before transferring to Liberty and was drafted by the Titans in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Malik Willis was a member of the Auburn Tigers back in the summer of 2019 and he found himself locked in a heated camp battle with Bo Nix for the starting quarterback job. Despite ultimately losing that battle, Willis might've won the war -- after transferring to Liberty, he earned the starting job immediately and fit into an offensive system under Hugh Freeze that better maximized his unique skill set. Of course, as you'll see by watching his 2021 game film vs. his 2020 game film, he downgraded his supporting cast, but Willis made sure that it didn't always matter.
Willis led Liberty to a 9-1 record in 2020 as the Flames emerged as one of the most surprising teams in college football. Willis racked up 2,250 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 944 rushing yards, 14 rushing touchdowns and a 64.2% completion rate. The script flipped in 2021 as his supporting cast collapsed around him -- including some of the worst offensive line play I've watched of any quarterback prospect in the past five classes -- we're not just talking blown blocks; we're talking about completely missing assignments -- multiple players on a single play. So while some evaluators knock Willis for the drop-off, a thorough evaluation of his film provides the context you need. We'll get to that below.
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Willis is the most exciting quarterback prospect I've evaluated from a Fantasy Football standpoint since Lamar Jackson in the 2018 NFL Draft class. He's not just a capable runner -- he's a dynamic playmaker who was used in a variety of ways as a rusher. We're not just talking zone read and broken plays that he breaks off for big runs -- Liberty used him on the power read in the run game. Willis broke 89 tackles in the open field during the 2021 season, the most of any player in college football including running backs, according to Pro Football Focus.
We're breaking down everything you need to know about Willis from a Fantasy manager perspective, including best fits, Dynasty outlook, measurables, scouting report, key stats and an NFL comparison.
Headshot
Malik Willis
LIB • QB • 7
HEIGHT
6-0 1/2
WEIGHT
219
AGE
22 (5/25/99)
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Fantasy fits
Detroit Lions
There has been some buzz building about the Lions potentially drafting Willis at No. 2 overall, and while I ultimately think they roll with hometown(ish) hero Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit would be a much better Fantasy fit than most give it credit for. What I love about this fit is that Detroit already has a plus offensive line in place, with arguably the NFL's best center and an emerging star at offensive tackle in Penei Sewell. If Willis is to have early success at the NFL level, he'll need to join a creative offense that is willing to curtail the system to fit his skill set, similar to how the Ravens did it with Lamar Jackson. That means a lot of zone-read and play-action vertical and intermediate shots based off the run game. New offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the man to do it, and D'Andre Swift would be a perfect fit as his running mate in that backfield. New vertical addition D.J. Chark would also mesh nicely with Willis.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are also rumored to be in the mix for Willis and I'd love to see him join Arthur Smith's team -- it would even give me flashbacks to the Michael Vick days. No, Willis and Vick are not all that similar as prospects, but a similar run-based offensive system can be tailored to fit Willis' strengths and make him an immediate contributor. Smith, designer of the dominant Titans run game of the 2019-2020 seasons, would certainly have some fun working with Willis. The Falcons already have an (emerging) elite intermediate and vertical option available to him in Kyle Pitts and a mentor in Marcus Mariota.