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What you need to know about Malik Willis’s debut

There was good and bad from Malik Willis last night. Let’s reasonably talk about both.

By Jimmy Morris
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NFL: Tennessee Titans at Baltimore Ravens Jessica Rapfogel-USA TODAY Sports

Pretty much all of the talk about last night’s Tennessee Titans loss to the Baltimore Ravens is about the performance of Malik Willis. Most people feel that the Titans got an absolute steal when Willis fell to them in the 3rd round of the draft. That is why Jon Robinson traded up to get him there. Last night you saw why he has the ability to be special - he has plenty of arm and he is special as a runner. You also saw some things that he needs to work on - especially being more aggressive.

I am the most reasonable person on Titans Twitter. Allow me to break it down:

The arm strength is there

The highlight of the night was this deep completion to Racey McMath:

That’s a pretty play that highlights Malik’s arm and Racey McMath’s ability to take the top off the defense.

There was also this “dart” as Graver called it from Willis to Mason Kinsey:

The ability to create something from nothing is most definitely there

The touchdown run was a perfect example of that.

There was also this throw that was just from a crazy angle:

He’s really fast!

He needs to be more aggressive from the pocket

If he throws that ball it’s a 60-yard touchdown, and as Cole says, we are having a different conversation about Treylon Burks and Willis today (not to mention my Draft Kings account would have more money in it, but that’s not what we are talking about here).

He needs to stay in the pocket longer

There was good and bad last night from Willis. That’s the type of performance we should have expected from him if we were being honest with ourselves. The good news is the things he struggles with are correctable. It is mostly just a product of the offense he played in at Liberty.

The most important thing will be to see progress on these things as the preseason games move along. Willis didn’t have any issues under center last night. That is a sign that he is willing to put the work in. I expect him to look a lot different when the Titans take on the Arizona Cardinals in week three of the preseason.

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