The Minnesota Vikings signaled the direction they are going under center when they signed Kirk Cousins to a 1-year, $35 million extension this summer. Kevin O’Connell coached Cousins in Washington, and he has maintained his belief in him since taking the Vikings job earlier this year. However, he would be justified in taking Malik Willis as Cousins’ heir apparent in this draft — even if it required moving up in the draft.
Willis is one of the biggest wild cards of this year’s draft. He has a variety of skills that will endear him to coaches around the league. But a lot of uncertainty surrounds him even though draft experts project him to be a first-round pick — and likely the first quarterback off the board.
Will the Vikings trade up to draft a quarterback? It’s unlikely. However, Willis would fit into the O’Connell system perfectly. And if we look at Willis’ actual skillset in isolation, he has the potential to thrive in the modern NFL.
To start, Willis’ mobility is the first thing everyone will talk about. He’s fast. Very fast. He opted out of running the 40-yard dash in the combine, however in his sophomore year at Auburn, he ran a 4.37.
Even in the Senior Bowl, Willis was turning heads. He was a top-rated quarterback after the season, but he may have solidified himself as a top-10 pick and the first QB off the board in Mobile.
Take a look at this unreal run against some of the nation’s best players and NFL prospects.
Willis even caught everyone’s attention at his pro day.
Many have compared him to Jalen Hurts. However, I see him as more of a Michael Vick-type of runner. His running style is extremely similar to Vick’s, and he has the same deep-ball prowess that Vick had in his NFL career.
Like Vick, Willis has an unreal ability to throw accurately on the run and has an absolute cannon of an arm.
Check out this beautiful throw by Willis against Syracuse.
Ironically, most people assume mobile quarterbacks will take any chance they can get to escape the pocket and scramble. But this play proves Willis defies that stereotype and can stay in the pocket and make the tough throws.
What impresses me the most about this throw is his pocket presence. He threw the ball with a defensive linemen inches from his face, and that takes guts and confidence. He also has great poise in the pocket.
Though Willis’ throwing motion and release are great, I believe there are some aspects of his game that he needs to improve upon. Though it looks electric on highlight tapes, Willis is constantly looking to make a big play. He sometimes forces the ball in places he shouldn’t. Not only does he get ahead of himself in decision-making, but he also overestimates his arm strength. Similar to what we’ve seen Cam Newton do all his career, Willis throws the ball unnecessarily hard at times, putting his receivers in bad situations.
Willis has the tools to be a great quarterback. He has the best QB skill set in the draft. Most of his errors are fixable with good coaching.
If we look at what we described here, Willis sounds like the perfect quarterback for the O’Connell offense. He has one of the quickest releases in the draft and the mobility to be perfect for all the rollouts and play actions that come with the Sean McVay coaching style. Also, Willis’ athleticism will fit the Vikings’ current needs perfectly with their subpar offensive line. Cousins constantly put himself in bad positions, and though it wasn’t entirely his fault, Willis would be able to make more out of the bad offensive line play than Cousins did.
Will Willis be available for the Vikings to select at 12? Probably not. However, if Willis slides, or if the Vikings trade up, he will fit Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings perfectly.
It all sounds great, right? There seems to be so much upside to Willis. However, there is a caveat.
Willis started his career at Auburn, where he backed up current New England Patriots quarterback Jarrett Stidham for two years. Willis wasn’t necessarily bad at Auburn, but he couldn’t beat out his competition and didn’t see much playing time as a result.
He had a chance to start in 2019, but again Willis couldn’t beat out his competition. At the end of the spring, Willis found himself as the third-string QB and decided to transfer.
Willis transferred to Liberty, a lesser program, and had to sit out for a year. That was likely the year where Willis developed into the player we all now know. Willis wasn’t known for his passing when he was at Auburn, and he was used almost as a wildcat-type quarterback in 2018. But it seems as if the year off in 2019 was critical for his development.
Few people had expectations for Willis entering 2020, but he lit it up. Willis threw 20 touchdowns and only six interceptions and rushed for 944 yards with a staggering 14 touchdowns. Willis was suddenly at the top of everyone’s draft boards coming out of 2020.
His stats improved in 2021, but a lot of scouts moved him down their draft boards because of his performance against higher-level competition. Willis had the worst game of his career against Ole Miss, the most notable team Liberty played in 2021, throwing for only 173 yards and three interceptions. Ole Miss stuffed Willis in the running game as well. He had 27 attempts for only 71 yards and a touchdown.
Though it wasn’t as bad of a performance, Willis also underperformed against North Carolina State in 2020. He threw two touchdowns and interceptions, had no rushing touchdowns, and Liberty lost the game.
Ignoring Willis’ actual skill set, the biggest knock on him would be his inability to beat out players at Auburn and his performance against bigger programs. Willis couldn’t beat out a redshirt freshman and a true freshman going into his third year of college football and then had to transfer.
It would be completely fair to ignore this aspect of Willis’ past if he had performed better against the bigger teams on his schedule. But he didn’t. He honestly looked bad at times. That doesn’t necessarily disqualify a quarterback from succeeding in the NFL – Joe Burrow transferred from Ohio State to LSU, and Willis’ Liberty team was significantly less talented than Ole Miss. But his decision to transfer and inability to beat big programs is a cause for concern.
It’s not enough to knock him out of likely being the first quarterback off the board. However, it shows that Willis needs a year to develop before being a starter in the NFL. Like in college, if Willis is given a “year off” in the NFL he can have some significant time to learn a new offense and fine-tune his skill sets.
Who better to learn from than Cousins? Though Cousins has been highly criticized, he would be a great mentor to Willis. Cousins is actually great at what Willis struggles with. He is perfectly content with check-downs and throws the ball in a way so it’s easy for his receivers to catch. Cousins would be a great mentor for Willis as the Vikings are bridging to a new regime.
If given proper development in the perfect scenario, I believe Willis can succeed in the NFL due to his raw talent. However, if any missteps happen in his development, he could end up being a bust.
