Jordan Love injury: What does backup Malik Willis bring and how can the Packers get the most out of the QB?

The Packers have famously enjoyed a seamless quarterback line from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love for more than 30 years, and while current starter Malik Willis is simply and clearly a replacement for Love while his knee recovers, it's time to assess what he'll bring to the field next month as Green Bay's spot starter, especially since the Packers signed him in August.

Willis was selected by the Titans in the third round out of Liberty in 2022, despite rumors throughout draft season that he would be selected in the first round. After sitting behind Ryan Tannehill as a rookie and Will Levis in 2023, he was locked in a battle for the backup position with veteran Mason Rudolph – who has a significantly different skill set than Willis – before the trade.

Willis brings raw athleticism, a strong arm and general inexperience at the quarterback position. He is just 25 and attempted 67 passes in the regular season, including 61 as a rookie in 2022.

But he has shown signs of development over the past two preseasons, and I'm going to highlight his performances from the 2024 preseason here. Makes sense, since that's the last time we saw him play.

I wouldn't call Willis' arm an elite thrower, but it's probably on the lower end of the scale, right below Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Anthony Richardson, and the like. He can really turn the football over.

Check out the speed, trajectory and overall placement of this 35-yard preseason touchdown against the Saints.

Nearly 45 yards on a line, with just enough arc to get over the cornerback in coverage, and he got there before the deep middle safety could attack the ball. And throws like that, at maximum speed, are all over his film, at every level of the field. And Willis has always had the fastball at his disposal. If anything, that touchdown in New Orleans was one of the few indications that he has added more finesse to his throwing repertoire as his NFL experience has increased.

Now for a negative point: sacks. One of the main criticisms of Willis as a young player was his habit of getting tackled behind the line of scrimmage. This happened 30 times in his final season with Liberty and was likely a factor in his perceived “slide” to the third round of the draft.

Like virtually all exemplary athletes who have seen an unprecedented surge from the college ranks to the NFL in recent years, Willis often tries to produce spectacular plays off the script when he initially doesn't like a play he sees as a passer.

This 2021 season for the Flames, Willis had an astronomically high pressure-to-sack rate of 30.5%. The year before, it was a much more respectable 18.3% and during his college career, 26.0%. In the context of young quarterbacks, Jayden Daniels' career pressure-to-sack rate of 24.5% has been discussed at length as a clear downside to his draft profile, even though it was only 20.2% in his final season at LSU.

Caleb Williams' rate was 19.4% in college and 23.2% at USC in 2023.

In three preseasons with the Titans, Willis' pressure-to-sack rate was 27.5%. From an NFL perspective, only three qualified quarterbacks had a pressure-to-sack rate above 30% in the 2023 regular season, namely Tannehill (ironically), Daniel Jones and Tommy DeVito.

Look at that sack against the Seahawks. He's stuck in the pocket and doesn't know where to put the football.

This type of sack is relatively common in Willis' films, but in this case I didn't notice anyone who was particularly open.

But don't get me wrong, Willis isn't a pure one-read quarterback without a feel for navigating the pocket and keeping his eyes up. He's grown as a passer by moving through reads. Subtle maneuverability out of pressure has also become part of his game, as he showed on his throw against the Seahawks in August.

Look right, jump left, look left, come back right, step forward, fire a missile between the numbers of the intended recipient against airtight cover.

Willis' ball placement from game to game needs to improve, as it does with most young quarterbacks. Here against the 49ers, he sees his receiver get pulled in the slot as he tries to break outside, but there is some separation – by NFL standards – as the wideout pushes toward the right sideline. And Willis' throw is a little too high and wide. Falls incomplete.

There can't be many of them at his first audition in Green Bay.

Finally, there's Willis' athletic side, which he brings to the field as a sprinter and runner. Although he's smaller and/or stockier than some of the other quarterbacks in the NFL who are truly dual threats – Willis is 6'1″ and 220 pounds – he hardly lacks power, acceleration and pure speed with the football in his hands.

And there is no shyness in the open field.

Here, watch him shake off a defender deep behind the line, use the turbos to get forward, and finish the 8-yard run with a lot of power.

While this type of talent is not a requirement to play quarterback in the NFL, we can all acknowledge that it is now becoming more of a necessity than it once was considered a luxury.

Willis also has a lot of experience with designed runs, mostly in college at Liberty. And that element of his game, especially in this Packers offense, is what intrigues me more than anything else about his traits. Why? Because Packers coach Matt LaFleur, one of the better play designers and playmakers in football, has never had a quarterback with Willis' mobility at his disposal.

In fact, Kyle Shanahan's coaching pedigree has never managed to work with a true dual-threat athlete at quarterback. Well, there are a few exceptions. Of course, if we think back to the true founder of the system, Kyle's father Mike, he won two Super Bowls in a row in the late 1990s with John Elway, a specimen who was as physically gifted as a runner as any quarterback of his era.

And what about Robert Griffin III?! Oh yeah, he's the other exception, entering the NFL 14 years after Elway retired. And what did Kyle do as RG3's offensive coordinator? As a rookie, Shanahan averaged a league-leading 8.1 yards per attempt on nearly 66% passing success, with just five interceptions and 815 rushing yards on 6.5 yards per attempt (which was also an NFL-leading 100) from a quarterback who, as we realized, was an average backup at his best outside of the Shanahan system.

Think about it — besides Elway and Griffin III, the Shanahan tree with branches like Sean McVay, Zac Taylor, LaFleur and Mike McDaniel has trained guys like Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan (Kyle himself), Brock Purdy, Matt Schaub, Kirk Cousins, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Nick Mullens, Sam Darnold, CJ Stroud and, now at the end of his career, Rodgers, who was never a true dual-threat weapon but always excelled as a shooter and improviser.

So we really don't know what subtleties LaFleur's system can incorporate when the quarterback poses a serious threat when carrying the football. Perhaps the Shanahan system is even averse to mobile quarterbacks with high running talent, the latter of which Willis can certainly provide.

The zone read section of the Shanahan playbook that LaFleur uses — and to which he has certainly added his own components over the years — is gathering dust. It hasn't been opened since Robert Griffin III was the starter in Washington in 2013.

Because Willis essentially has the size of a full-size running back, he can add an aspect to the running game inside and between the tackles.

In his three preseasons with the Titans, Willis carried the ball 47 times for 390 yards—that's 8.3 yards per game!—with two scores and no fumbles. Of course, as many of the rookie quarterbacks discovered in Week 1, the regular season is a much different caliber than the August tryouts.

But Willis has done everything he can do in the preseason to show that he is at least worthy of carrying the football in crucial games, and it will be interesting to see how much LaFleur tries to highlight Willis' natural athleticism as an extension of Green Bay's ground attack.

Given the diverse weapons at his disposal, the quality offensive line, and LaFleur's proven scheme that has proven to both revitalize older quarterbacks and develop young quarterbacks, Willis will be playing in an ecosystem that favors his success, even in this short time as the Packers' starting quarterback.

Can he develop mentally and, above all, act in a structured manner? And will LaFleur make use of Willis' additional athletic talent?

If the answer to both questions is yes, the Packers are well on their way to another model quarterback development process, albeit one that will be fast-tracked this time.