Titans have lost faith in Malik Willis just one season after taking him in NFL Draft’s third round, per report

The Tennessee Titans are in a fascinating spot, particularly as it relates to the quarterback position. Ryan Tannehill, who has been the club’s starter since 2019, has one year remaining on his contract and teams reportedly believe he is on the trade block as we enter the 2023 NFL Draft. Speaking of the draft, Tennessee owns the No. 11 overall pick and could be a dark horse to take a quarterback either at that spot or in a trade-up scenario. But what of Malik Willis, the Titans second-year quarterback who they took in the third round a year ago? 

Well, it sounds like he has fallen out of favor within the organization. Peter King of NBC Sports notes in his latest Football Morning in America column that he has heard that Tennessee has lost faith in Willis. To further hammer that point home, King also had the Titans trading up in his latest mock draft to No. 3 overall to select Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. 

Willis was the 86th overall pick last season out of Liberty. With Tannehill injured, the 23-year-old started three games for Tennessee last year and appeared in eight total games, but the results left much to be desired. Willis went 1-2 as the starter and completed just 50.8% of his passes to go along with a 42.8 passer rating. He was then benched for veteran Joshua Dobbs for the final two games in the regular season and the passing attack had a noticeable uptick in production with Dobbs in over Willis despite the team losing those matchups. 

Willis’ play didn’t do much to have Tennessee feeling confident in his prospects of being the team’s quarterback of the future and this latest report serves as confirmation to that point. It is worth noting, however, that the team reportedly souring on Willis may not mean he’ll be shown the door anytime soon. He’s an extremely cheap option to keep around as he has a base salary of just $939,000 in 2023 and is signed through 2025 where he’ll make just $1.4 million in base salary. While he may not be the QB of the future in Nashville, he’s an affordable backup at the moment. 

Tannehill and Willis are also the only two quarterbacks currently on the Titans roster, so one would have to imagine the team comes away with a quarterback at the NFL Draft. Where they ultimately take that quarterback, however, is the million-dollar question.