Malik Willis lost the competition to serve as the Tennessee Titans’ backup quarterback this season. On Sunday, the Auburn alumnus could be the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.
That’s the Packers’ plan if No. 1 QB Jordan Love isn’t ready to play against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday.
After Tennessee decided to go with Mason Rudolph as Will Levis’ backup, Green Bay sent a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Titans for Willis and a seventh-round draft selection in 2025.
Willis practiced with the Packers for the first time on Aug. 28 and had learned enough of the playbook to serve as Jordan Love’s backup in Green Bay’s season-opening game on Friday night against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil.
Willis got to play, too – the final two snaps of the game after Packers starter Jordan Love left with a knee injury.
Fears that Love had sustained a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear were unfounded. But Love did sustain a sprained medial collateral ligament, which LaFleur termed “relatively good news,” with his timetable for return dependent on the severity of that knee injury.
Love will not be placed on injured reserve, LaFleur said, which would require the quarterback to miss at least four games.
“If Jordan’s not cleared, then we’ll start Malik,” LaFleur said about the Packers’ quarterback plans for Sunday, “and Sean (Clifford) will be the backup.”
After obtaining Willis, the Packers put Clifford, a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, on the practice squad and waived QB Michael Pratt, a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
“He’s put a lot of time and effort into this thing,” LaFleur said about Willis’ grasp of the Green Bay playbook. “He’s grinding. He’s learned the terminology. He was able to spit out the play calls, and we’ve got confidence in him.
“I think if he’s given a full week of preparation, a full week of practice, I got confidence that he’ll go out there and perform at a high level.”
During the Titans’ three preseason games last month, Willis completed 20-of-27 passes for 205 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Willis was Tennessee’s leading rusher in the preseason with 101 yards on 11 carries. Willis finished the preseason with a flourish as he threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to help the Titans pull out a 30-27 preseason victory over the New Orleans Saints on Aug. 25.
The Titans selected Willis from Liberty in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and he played in 11 games in two seasons. That included three starts as a rookie when Ryan Tannehill was out with injuries. With the Titans, Willis completed 35-of-66 passes for 350 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions and ran for 144 yards and one touchdown on 32 carries.
As Jarrett Stidham’s backup at Auburn, Willis completed 11-of-14 passes for 69 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 309 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries in 2017 and 2018. In two seasons at Liberty, Willis completed 377-of-604 passes for 5,107 yards with 47 touchdowns and 18 interceptions and ran for 1,822 yards and 27 touchdowns on 338 carries.
The Packers play the Colts at noon CDT Sunday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
