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    • What does this mean for Will Levis, Titans forward?
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    What does this mean for Will Levis, Titans forward?

    Vaseline Posted on

    The Malik Willis who showed up to training camp for the Tennessee Titans this summer wasn’t the same Willis who was booed for even taking a snap last season. That growth still wasn’t enough to warrant a spot on the long-term roster.

    The Titans traded Willis to the Green Bay Packers on Monday afternoon for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Tennessean. That leaves the Titans with just two quarterbacks on the active roster: starter Will Levis and backup Mason Rudolph.

    Stylistically, Willis always felt like the odd one out of the trio. Levis and Rudolph aren’t exactly comparable passers, but Rudolph would be easier to translate to a Levis-centric scheme than Willis, the dual-threat option who struggled with consistency and decision-making in two seasons with the Titans.

    So, with just two weeks to go before the start of the 2024 NFL season, what does the Willis trade mean for the Titans in the big picture? Let’s take a look.

    For Will Levis this means very little

    It would have taken an injury or disaster for either Rudolph or Willis to dethrone Levis as the Titans’ starter for this season. The fact that Willis is no longer in the picture does not improve Rudolph’s chances any more than Rudolph’s chances would have been improved if Rudolph were traded.

    Willis’ absence from the roster limits the Titans’ ability to use some of the designed quarterback-run packages they favored with him in the preseason. But the offense was never going to be built around one or two gadget packages.

    For Brian Callahan this means a little bit

    First-year coach Brian Callahan said repeatedly during training camp that the decision to keep two or three quarterbacks would depend on the rest of the roster, not the quarterbacks themselves. Loading the active roster with three means sacrificing an additional depth piece at a position like receiver, running back, tight end, linebacker or defensive back.

    With cut day coming up on Tuesday, Titans fans won’t have to wait long to see which positions get prioritized over third-string quarterback. But the fact that the team was willing to make strength-of-the-roster decisions on just-in-case-we-need options is an indication of the direction the Callahan era could be headed.

    What’s next for the Tennessee Titans quarterback depth chart?

    Moving on from Willis doesn’t necessarily mean the Titans will be without three active quarterbacks. But it’s most likely that if the Titans do add a quarterback, they’ll do so via a practice squad signing.

    The market isn’t exactly full of NFL-caliber quarterbacks, since the roster hasn’t been cut yet. After the cuts are made, the Titans could either move a player from another team’s practice squad directly to the active roster, or send a player who didn’t make the practice squad to Nashville.

    Some of the quarterbacks already cut this week include former Miami Dolphins passer Mike White and Willis’ draft classmate Matt Corral, recently cut by the Minnesota Vikings. Other available free agents who could potentially try out to form a practice squad include Trevor Siemian, Kellen Mond and former Titans passer Blaine Gabbert.

    What’s next for Malik Willis?

    A fresh start can be a good thing. He’s not coming to Green Bay to compete with Jordan Love. Love’s $220 million contract extension he signed this summer is a pretty strong vote of confidence from Green Bay’s leadership.

    Love isn’t exactly a run-first quarterback, so it’s unfair to say Willis is a style match for him. But Love does have some mobile tendencies, and Packers coach Matt LaFleur has experience as quarterbacks coach in Washington during the Robert Griffin III era, so the offense he’s moving into might be kinder to his talents.

    But mostly, the expectations Willis didn’t live up to in Nashville would follow him as long as he was with the Titans. Remember the jeers he endured in Atlanta last season? They won’t follow him to Green Bay. The weight of the expectations Willis had coming to Nashville won’t outweigh the weight of the expectations that come with being Love’s backup.

    Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @nicksuss.

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