Quarterback Evaluation: Malik Willis
Taking a closer look at what Liberty quarterback Malik Willis offers as a draft prospect
Quarterback is by far Washington’s biggest need this offseason, which means it’s time to start evaluating some of the options Washington has. It’s believed the Commanders (that is going to take some time to get used to writing…) will take some swings at some big names on the trade market, but we’ll have to wait and see if they get any hits there. For now, I’ll start with one of the most interesting quarterback prospects in this draft class: Malik Willis. It’s widely thought of as a poor quarterback class, but the Liberty quarterback is commonly recognised as the most talented prospect with the most upside.
When watching Willis, the upside does jump out, but it’s also very clearly raw talent that will take time to develop correctly and could easily end up failing to develop. The two things that will stand out straight away are arm strength and mobility, both of which he has in abundance.
This is a simple bootleg play from the shotgun. Willis rolls out to his left and works a sail concept off the bootleg. The outside receiver works vertical to occupy the deep defenders while the tight end sifts across to occupy the flat. Those two routes attack the deep and shallow parts of the defense, stretching it for the slot receiver to run a sail route in between them. Willis casually rolls out to his left, spots the sail route coming open, resets and fires a cannon to drive the ball to the sail route for a nice completion.
Arm strength can often be overrated by fans and it’s definitely not the most important part of playing quarterback. We’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks be successful in the NFL without having elite arm strength because things like accuracy and anticipation are far more important. However, arm strength does allow certain quarterbacks with the right mindset to be a little more aggressive and attack defenses in certain ways, and Willis shows he’s one of those quarterbacks that can take advantage of his arm strength,
These clips show what having the arm talent that Willis has can do for a quarterback when used correctly. On the first play of the clip, Willis beats a 2-Trap coverage. The outside corner is responsible for the outside receiver unless the slot receiver breaks outside within a certain distance. Liberty has the slot receiver run a quick out route, so the outside corner peels off the outside receiver and jumps up to trap the out route. When the corner peels off, the safety is expected to take over the outside receiver. However, Willis has the arm and aggressive mentality to rip the ball behind the trap corner and fit it in the gap before the safety gets across.
The second play of the clip is a similar throw for Willis. The outside receiver runs a double move this time, causing the corner to bite up underneath. Willis then throws it behind him before the safety can get across. What this arm strength and mentality does is causes corners to play a little bit softer and more conservatively. By the third play of the clip, Liberty run the same concept as the first play, the outside receiver works vertically while the slot receiver runs a quick out. This time though, the outside corner plays off and squeezes the outside receiver to the sideline instead of immediately peeling off to the slot receiver in the flat. This takes away the deeper option from Willis, but also opens up the easier throw in the flat which is what the play is designed to do in the first place.
Having the arm to attack deeper areas of the field and make corners play more conservatively can help young quarterbacks open up easier throws. But Willis also shows the confidence and capability of manipulating defenders to continue to attack deeper throws.
On this play, Liberty runs a corner-flat concept, also known as a smash concept. The play is designed to target the outside cornerback’s coverage. If the defense plays zone, the outside corner has to decide to either drop deeper to defend the corner route, or step up and defend the flat. The quarterback just has to read which one the cornerback plays and throw the ball to the other receiver. But here, Willis manipulates the cornerback into defending the flat in order to open up the deeper throw. Willis deliberately lines up and fakes throwing to the flat almost instantly. This gets the cornerback to bite up and opens up a small window behind him. Willis quickly resets his feet and pulls the trigger on the deeper route. The cornerback does a pretty good job adjusting and sinking back underneath the route, while the safety works over too. But Willis has the arm and accuracy to drive the ball into a small window and find his receiver for a bigger gain.
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