For months now, the idea of the Detroit Lions taking a quarterback with their top pick in the 2022 NFL draft has been obscured by a broadly perceived lack of worthy candidates. It’s not a good draft to need a quarterback, or so everyone with a microphone, a keyboard and an opinion will loudly declare.
But now there is a candidate emerging who just might be worthy. Malik Willis has elevated his stock enough between the Senior Bowl and this week’s NFL scouting combine to merit a legitimate discussion about the possibility the Lions could take him at No. 2 overall.
It’s been quite a draft season for the Liberty quarterback. While questions about his current ability level rightly curb the enthusiasm, Willis’ electrifying offseason has to force Detroit GM Brad Holmes, head coach Dan Campbell and the Lions to consider him as the team’s potential quarterback of the future. Detroit has a firmly entrenched starter for 2022 in Jared Goff, who played well enough down the stretch to create real optimism about his potential to work with a better supporting cast than the Lions surrounded him with in 2021.
But Goff is quite expensive in the long-term, and it’s difficult and irresponsible to ignore some of the truly dreadful play he produced in the first half of his first year in Detroit. The Lions can break away from Goff after 2022 if they choose, but they can’t do that without a plan.
If the plan is to select the player with the best chance of being better than Jared Goff for Detroit in 2023, Willis is almost certainly the only choice in the 2022 NFL draft. And based on what we’ve all seen and heard in the last couple of months, if the Lions want Willis it will take using the No. 2 overall pick to secure him.
The complicating factor is that Willis is not better than Goff now. Bluntly, his college game tape from Liberty reveals a player that isn’t close to being better than Goff anytime soon. How Willis performed in rough 2021 outings against Army and Louisiana-Monroe — nary a future NFL player on either defense — is deeply concerning. His lack of consistent accuracy, the inability to deliver anticipatory throws, the poor decisions under pressure from those games is a massive buzzkill.
His week at the Senior Bowl, where he played under the Lions coaching staff, was better but still variable. Willis was responsible for the best and worst throws in every practice. For every deep rifle shot that left the closing safety running in vain, Willis would misfire a 10-yard out by several feet. His lack of touch on shorter throws was alarming. But then he’d deftly scramble away from a free rusher and uncork a 25-yard strike to a receiver crossing the field.
Willis understands the worries. He is already hard at work on fixing some mechanical flaws that led to a 61.1 completion percentage and 12 interceptions in the Flames’ final seven games.
“Definitely my footwork and trying to be as consistent as I can with my base,” Willis told reporters on Wednesday when asked about what he’s been working on to prep for the NFL. “That’s where some of the flaws in my game come from, maybe some of the inaccuracies. It’s just the footwork. It’s not just being inaccurate.”
That answer was part of a media session where Willis absolutely nailed it. Standing in the large media throng, the positive energy around Willis was palpable. He’s charismatic, confident without being arrogant and very at ease with all the moving parts around him. It’s easy to see a team like the Lions viewing him as a positive face of the franchise.
As for character concerns? Here’s what Willis did not long after the aforementioned podium time:
Was having lunch yesterday and saw one of the Combine guys helping out someone on some hard times…@malikwillis being great even when nobody is watching. How can you not be a fan of this guy? pic.twitter.com/BmFzUM66NU
— Ryan Lacey (@rlacey23) March 3, 2022
Thursday night brought the hyped workout, and Willis delivered. Though he’s not doing the athletic testing until his pro day later this spring, Willis showed off the arm strength and deep accuracy. This deep dime was handily the best throw of the night and followed several other quarterbacks hanging deep balls too high or lacking the tight spiral and velocity.
An absolute BEAUTY of a throw from @LibertyFootball
QB @malikwillis 😮📺: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/nBtecvoB2I
— NFL (@NFL) March 4, 2022
It makes the decision at No. 2 much more interesting. Detroit offers Willis the chance to sit and learn, to work on the mechanics and the defensive processing he needs at a higher level. Willis already has an advocate in the building in QB coach Mark Brunell, a former NFL quarterback of a similar size (Willis is 6-0 and 219, Brunell played at 6-1 and 215) and dashing style.
Here’s what Thor Nystrom of NBC Sports noted when he recently projected Willis to the Lions at No. 2 in a mock draft,
At the Senior Bowl, I heard the Lions liked Malik Willis. Heck, their coaching staff, which coached him, had a hard time keeping that secret. Lions QB coach Mark Brunell, coding things best he could, confidently said that he could turn one of the three quarterbacks on his Mobile roster into a Pro Bowler within three seasons. No chance he was talking about Bailey Zappe. The only other option was Sam Howell, who had a down 2021 season, and a down Senior Bowl week – an event that Willis dominated.
If the Lions opt to stick to defense at No. 2 as widely expected, maneuvering to land Willis would cost considerable draft capital. It’s a concept I explored recently in a mock offseason scenario,
Lions send No. 32 overall, No. 66 overall, the team’s (projected) fifth-round comp pick in 2022 and the Rams’ first-round pick in 2023 to the New York Jets for the No. 10 overall pick (traded from Seattle) and a fourth-round pick (acquired from MIN, No. 115 overall) in 2022.
That trade closely aligns with what Lions senior assistant John Dorsey pulled off as the GM of the Kansas City Chiefs to trade up and land Patrick Mahomes back in the 2017 NFL draft. It’s an expensive decision, but one perhaps more palatable than using the No. 2 overall pick on a player who almost certainly cannot contribute right away. The Lions do have the draft ammo to trade up higher if they feel the need, too.
Will they do it? That’s up to Holmes, Dorsey, Campbell and the Lions. It’s not a move everyone would embrace, but it’s one Willis’ strong offseason has to at least force the Lions to deeply contemplate.
