GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst needed a backup quarterback in 2024 when he traded for Malik Willis. He’ll need a backup quarterback again in 2026.
“Obviously, we’d love to have Malik back but, at the same time, to be realistic, I think he’s going to have a lot of opportunities to maybe play more than he would here,” Gutekunst said last week.
Willis will be a hot commodity in free agency. Two teams are “particularly keen on the emerging talent,” according to NFL insider Jason La Canfora.
As La Canfora wrote for SportsBoom: “One general manager, whose team will be in the quarterback market at least to some degree, pointed to Cleveland and Miami as the teams to beat, and another general manager, less inclined to be seeking a new QB, identified that contact Justin Fields signed with the Jets a year ago as a likely template for what Willis can likely land on the open market.
“‘I hear the same thing you do, about Miami and Cleveland,’” one general manager told La Canfora.
The “template” for the Willis contract will be the two-year, $40 million contract that Fields signed with the New York Jets last offseason. That included a $15 million signing bonus as part of $30 million guaranteed. In Year 2 of the deal in 2026, half of Fields’ $20 million base salary is guaranteed.
The Browns and Dolphins have new coaches and uncertainty at quarterback.
Miami’s interest is obvious. It has a new general manager in Jon-Eric Sullivan and a new coach in Jeff Hafley. Both were with the Packers during Willis’ two seasons, so saw first-hand his exponential growth under coach Matt LaFleur.
The Dolphins, however, have one of the worst salary-cap situations in the league, and dumping Tua Tagovailoa is only going to deepen the mess.
The Browns are over the cap, though not to the same level as Miami, and new coach Todd Monken has professed a liking of Shedeur Sanders.
A wild card could be the Cardinals, who are going to move on from Kyler Murray and have plenty of cap space. Their new coach, Mike LaFleur, doesn’t have to dig too far into his Rolodex to find a head coach who knows what Willis can do.
Willis was exceptional when pressed into duty.
During two seasons with Tennessee after being its third-round pick in 2022, Willis played in 11 games with three starts and had zero touchdowns, three interceptions and a 49.4 passer rating. During two seasons with Green Bay after being acquired with a seventh-round pick, Willis played in 11 games with three starts and had six touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 134.6 passer rating.
As noted in our postseason report card, there were 115 seasons in which a quarterback threw at least 35 passes and started at least one game. Willis in 2025 ranked first in passer rating (145.5), first in completion percentage (85.7) and first in yards per attempt (12.1). Willis in 2024 ranked second in passer rating (124.8), second in yards per attempt (10.2) and third in completion percentage (74.1).
Willis in 2025 completed 30-of-35 passes. Two of the incompletions were drops.
In Week 17, Jordan Love practiced all week with the expectation that he’d clear the concussion protocol and start against Baltimore. Instead, Love didn’t pass the protocol and Willis, having spent the week emulating the Ravens’ quarterbacks for the scout team, got the start. He was 18-of-21 passing for 288 yards and one touchdown before leaving due to his injured right shoulder.
“You are only what you can put on tape, and that’s the truth about it,” Willis said before Week 18. “It doesn’t matter what my opinion was or what may have been or may have not been, so who knows? All you can do is continue to work hard and when your opportunity arises, you try to do your best to put it out there.”
Of 512 individual games in 2025 in which a quarterback attempted at least 20 passes, Willis’ performance against Baltimore ranked fifth in yards per attempt (13.6), sixth in completion percentage (85.7), eighth in success rate (68.2 percent) and 34th in passer rating (134.2).
“The combination of explosive runs and explosive passes that Willis provided in relief of Willis did not go unnoticed,” La Canfora wrote about the Dolphins’ interest in Willis.
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