Jalen Hurts posted completion percentages of 52.0% and 61.3% in his first two seasons. Most fans wanted him replaced. Nick Sirianni was nearly fired. Together they won a Super Bowl. Since then, the league has produced a wave of similar stories: Jared Goff rebuilt his career in Detroit, Baker Mayfield reached the playoffs in Tampa Bay in 2023, Sam Darnold took Minnesota to the playoffs in 2024 then led Seattle to the NFC Championship Game in 2025, and Daniel Jones went 8–4 in Indianapolis before an injury ended his season.
Each case followed the same logic: the right system matters more than the right quarterback. The question for this offseason is whether any team applies that lesson to Malik Willis.
Failed 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 a developmental quarterback in a no-win situation during his rookie season.
Fixed Him
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 — 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.
DK Metcalf hasn't hit 1,000 yards in two seasons. Better offensive line than New York. But Mike McCarthy's pass-heavy scheme exposes the one weakness Willis still has without the receiving options to mitigate. The system works against him.
Garrett Wilson has eclipsed 1,000 yards in all four seasons despite backup quarterbacks. Breece Hall commands defensive attention that Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren don't. Aaron Glenn served as Detroit's defensive coordinator during the Goff rebuild, so he has seen the blueprint. He valued dual-threat QBs last free agency when signing Tyrod Taylor and Justin Fields.
Willis fixed the two things that derailed his career. The zero interceptions prove he stopped panicking. The 25-point completion jump proves he stopped hesitating. The fumble risk remains, but every quarterback on this list had something that remained.
Willis isn't the next Jalen Hurts. He's the next test case for whether NFL teams actually learned what made Hurts and Goff work. The Jets have the weapons, the scheme, and a coach who already saw the blueprint once, and the Packers showed what's possible with the right structure.