Former Auburn and Liberty quarterback Malik Willis made his NFL debut for the Tennessee Titans on Thursday in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Willis went 6-of-11 for 107 yards and had five carries for 38 yards and a touchdown in the 23-10 loss. After the game, he had some thoughts on his debut.
Speaking to the media after the game, Willis admitted that he made up for plays he couldn’t make with his arm by running. He said that he needs to learn to not do that.
“I just made up for it with my legs. Can’t continue to rely on that, though,” Willis said. “But that’s what the preseason is for — so you can just see those things against a live defense, one we hadn’t played before.”
Willis wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t pre-determining his plays. He said he did his best to go through his progressions and will review the film to see what happened.
“I mean, all you do is go out there and play the game,” Willis said. “You don’t have a play like, ‘I have to pass the ball this play. I have to run the ball this play.’ You just play the game. I probably ran it a little more than I threw it tonight. That’s why we’ve got to look at film. But I don’t know. We’ll see on film.”
Coming out of college, Malik Willis was seen as one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. He wound up being the third quarterback off the board with the Tennessee Titans grabbing him in the third round of the draft.
Willis is not competing for the starting job as Ryan Tannehill still has it locked up. He is pretty firmly cemented as the backup this year.
His NFL debut was a mixed bag. We’ll likely see a little more out of him in the next two preseason games as they tighten things up.