The Vikings Should Consider Liberty QB in Draft
Janik Eckardt
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The Minnesota Vikings extended the contract of their franchise quarterback Kirk Cousins in the 2022 off-season and therefore don´t have to rush the search for his successor. The move gave the team more time and flexibility.
Flexibility means, in this case, that General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has the option to draft a quarterback, but not the necessity. Drafting a quarterback just because of need is never a good strategy. Too high is the risk to reach for one if teams draft for need. The Vikings did that in 2011 when they selected Christian Ponder with the 12th overall pick. The draft selection of a quarterback always has the chance to change the franchise in a good and bad way.
Malik Willis is the favorite passer of fans all over the world. He is the favorite for obvious reasons: He is exciting to watch, and he possesses enormous potential. The prospect has strengths and weaknesses like all draft prospects, and drafting him involves some risk.
High School and College Career
The quarterback attended Roswell High School in Georgia and passed for 2,562 yards while rushing for 1,033 yards as a senior. He scored 37 total touchdowns. The three-star athlete committed to Auburn. In his two years in Auburn, Jarrett Stidham was the starting quarterback. Willis has thrown just 14 passes for 69 yards and one touchdown. He added 309 yards and two scores on the ground. The talented player later admitted in an interview with NFL.com that he did not get the chance to play because of his immaturity.
Liberty was the next step in Willis´ career. He had to sit out one year after the transfer. In 2020, he was named the starting quarterback, and he passed for 2,250 yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions while leading his team to a 9-1 record. Willis recorded 2,857 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in his red-shirted senior season. He added a lot of value in the running game. In his 23 games, he rushed 338 times for 1,822 yards and incredible 27 touchdowns.
Strengths
Malik Willis possesses some elite physical tools that make him very exciting to watch and give him a high ceiling. Everything starts with his arm strength. He has a cannon of a right arm. Willis can use his throwing power for different things. He can make 60-yard bombs look effortless and throw the ball into tight coverages on shorter throws. In other words, he can make throws, passers with physical limitations, or even average passers won´t even think about. As a result of his aggressive playing style, he is the best big-play passer in the draft.
Another big positive is his mobility. Willis is a good athlete, and he has to be accounted for in the running game. His scrambles will hurt defenses in the NFL. He is almost built like a running back, which means that he can run over people. He can outrun linebackers, and he can juke a defender with his agility. His speed is not on the same level as Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray, but there are not a lot of other passers in the league faster than him.
Willis is not only built like a tailback. He uses his blockers like one, too. He sets his blockers up and uses his vision and patience to find holes to run through. He breaks a lot of tackles on his runs, and for that reason, he is tough to stop.
Weaknesses/Concerns
Willis´ most significant question mark is undoubtedly his decision-making. His tape is full of throws into double coverage. Sometimes there are even more than two defenders. A lot of them will surely result in interceptions in the NFL, but the low level of competition he faces in Liberty lets him get away with it at times. At times, he has an open receiver and hesitates instead of just throwing him the ball.
His pocket presence is not great. He likes to scramble without need at times and runs into trouble. That is reminiscent of Deshaun Watson, who has the same problem. Willis has to play more in the pocket and trust his pass blockers, especially as long as they protect him well.
The height is not a death sentence for smaller NFL quarterbacks anymore. They can still be high draft picks. Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray were first overall picks. It is not as big of a concern as it used to be, but it is still a concern, and some teams will move Willis down on their draft boards because of the height. At the combine, his height was measured at six feet and a half-inch while weighing 219 pounds.
Willis possesses excellent accuracy on throws outside of the numbers but misses too many throws in the middle. That is a very uncommon combination and should alert NFL teams. Struggling at doing the easy things is a problem.
He tries to win the game on every play. A four-yard gain can be a good thing and is much better than a turnover, sack, or incomplete pass.
The former Liberty quarterback needs to add some touch to his throws. Too many of his throws are lasers.
Draft and Career Outlook
Most NFL fans view Willis as the top quarterback in the draft because he is exciting and has potential. My grade for him: 80.25 – Late first-round pick. The draft pundits regularly have him selected in the top 10 in their mock drafts. He has a lot of fundamentals to learn. I don´t think he should play in his first year. Whoever will draft him should redshirt him for at least one year.
If he can improve his decision-making and some mechanical issues, he can become a pro-bowl-level quarterback in the NFL. But if he can´t, he will not have a long career in the NFL. Malik Willis is a high-risk, high-reward prospect.
Before the Kirk Cousins extension, I was not a fan of the idea that the Vikings could draft Willis. But now they have the option to sit him and learn behind their veteran quarterback for not just one but two years. If Viking’s new Head Coach Kevin O´Connell thinks he can fix the issues of the talented athlete, then they should at least consider drafting him, even if it is not a need this season.
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