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By Megan Armstrong
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Malik Willis has grown into an invaluable backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers after the team acquired him in an August 2024 trade with the Tennessee Titans.
But Willis is reportedly too valuable in free agency for Green Bay to keep him.
On Wednesday morning, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported, "Packers free agent quarterback Malik Willis is in demand, as expected, and interested teams I've spoken to at the Combine in Indianapolis believe him getting at least $30 million per year is a foregone conclusion."
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This won't come as a surprise to Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, who conceded during his end-of-season press conference that Green Bay would likely lose Willis. "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, so we'll see where that goes," Gutekunst said.
With quarterback Jordan Love firmly cemented as the Packers' starter for the foreseeable future, Willis does not have a path to a starting job in Green Bay. But Willis has shown flashes in limited starts over the past two seasons.
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Love suffered a lower leg injury in the Packers' 2024 season-opening loss to Philadelphia. Willis started the next two games and led the Packers to wins against Indianapolis and Tennessee. Against the Titans, the team that drafted him in the third round in 2022, Willis completed 68.4% of his passes for 202 yards and one touchdown, and added 73 yards and one touchdown as a rusher. The
But Willis really captured people's attention in 2025. Love suffered a concussion midway through the second quarter of the Packers' Week 16 tilt in Chicago, and Willis seamlessly stepped in — 9-of-11 for 121 yards and a touchdown as a passer, 10 carries for 44 yards as a rusher — to keep Green Bay in firm control of the game until the very end, where the Bears pulled off a heroic comeback to win 22-16 in overtime.
Willis started the following week at home against the Baltimore Ravens. The 26-year-old dazzled in the best game of his NFL career, appearing in total control of the Packers' offense. He finished the night with a staggering 85.7% completion rate for 288 yards and one touchdown on top of nine carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. His night was cut short by a right shoulder injury.
The Packers lost both of Willis' starts last season, but Willis won over plenty of NFL teams desperate for a dynamo at quarterback.
The consensus prediction is that Willis will land with the Miami Dolphins, largely because the Dolphins poached new head coach Jeff Hafley and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan from the Packers. Hafley was the Packers' defensive coordinator, and Sullivan was the vice president of player personnel.
However, Willis has also been linked to the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and Arizona Cardinals in the rumor mill.
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