The NFL Broke Him
Green Bay Fixed Him

When Ryan Tannehill went down, Tennessee put Willis into an offense built entirely around Derrick Henry's ground game. Teams stacked defenders in the box in an effort to stop the run. Willis' 144 rushing yards showed ability, but his four fumbles showed a quarterback scrambling before he could read defenses.

Across those 11 games: 350 passing yards, zero touchdowns, three interceptions. The numbers reflect a team that put an developmental quarterback in an impossible situation during his rookie season.

Two seasons behind Jordan Love changed how Willis processed the game. The completion percentage jump tells part of it. The zero interceptions across 89 attempts tell the rest. He stopped second-guessing reads and started taking what defenses gave him.

He was sacked 11 times in Green Bay, only three fewer than Tennessee. Willis completed 78.65% of his passes for 972 yards with six touchdowns. He averaged 13.89 yards per completion, a 3.89-yard improvement from his first two years in the league.

Willis became a paradox for defenses to deal with because he finally understood how to make decisions without hesitating. His legs became a setup for throws rather than an escape from chaos. These are transferable skills.

He generated 15 rushing first downs and three rushing touchdowns while cutting his fumbles from four to two.

Six fumbles across 22 career games. Willis runs like Cam Newton and Josh Allen. He tries to break tackles instead of sliding or going out of bounds. The key difference: Newton played at 6'5" and 245 pounds, Allen at 6'5" and 237. Willis is 6'1" and 225. He absorbs the same contact with less frame to absorb it. The fumble risk is real.

His remaining weakness is whether he can handle a role as a volume passer, which is a product of limited starting experience, not arm talent. A team built around YAC weapons and a versatile pass-catching back mitigates this entirely. A scheme that can build his confidence throughout games for occasional deep shots would be ideal.