LoFi’s Lowdown – Malik Willis I was hoping for?

For those who don’t want to wait for the climactic end to the question: Malik Willis, I was hoping for more. The first few games, it was not too fair to really look closely at Malik Willis with the O-line struggles early. Week 3, things changed, and Malik Willis had time to throw, but some tendencies you saw the first few weeks were still there. Could it be ghosts of games past? It’s still too early in the season to tell, but let’s highlight a few of these tendencies that might be keeping Malik from the conversation of franchise quarterback.

Throwing from his back foot: It still gets there in a hurry, but these are football fundamentals that I don’t believe you get a pass on mastering. The few times in Sunday’s loss to Kansas City when Malik threw with proper technique, the passes were completed and were something to be excited about. Malik, with little to no pressure, seemed to favor throwing it off his back foot, and this far into your career, that habit should be excommunicated to a last resort. I worry about the wear on Malik’s arm if he keeps that habit going while playing in a full-time role.

Malik favors throwing off-platform, it seems, more so than is necessary. This off-platform throwing might be part of the reason he is quick to leave the pocket so he can create the throwing lanes he desires, as I saw on several plays while watching film with George.

Watch Patrick Mahomes, and you see polish, decisive decision-making, and the one thing Mahomes does that Malik Willis does not: climbing the pocket and also delivering the ball with proper mechanics in the face of pressure, which often leads to a quarterback taking a hit. For Mahomes on Sunday, one of the few hits he took was while delivering a touchdown pass. Not only has Malik rarely climbed the pocket this season when there was room, he often faded back and threw off his back foot, which was just odd to watch this last game.

Is Malik Willis playing scared? Hafley has said, “Success is not gonna be measured in wins and losses this year… I want to see where we end up and how far we can take this thing, and how much we develop these players.” Is Malik Willis just preserving his body for the future? Is he just not settled in yet and confident about what to expect from others around him? Does he know where his outlets and checkdowns are? Is he not ready to play at NFL speed yet? Can he read a defense pre- and post-snap at a high level, or is he just keying on simple reads? Can he make adjustments at the line of scrimmage? One guy I was hoping was not on the list of needing a lot of developing was Malik Willis.

Malik is not getting much help with receivers getting open, and he has done a great job extending plays with his feet, but it’s starting to look like he’s more comfortable out of the pocket than in it at this stage of the season. We have seen this from guys like Lamar Jackson, and, well, that is something we can be patient with.

What was most worrisome and again, it’s too early in the season to put a stamp on it, was that I didn’t see “IT.” Down by seven and with the game within reach for a big upset, did Malik show us another gear and that next-level competitiveness we see from the greats? This is when the QB puts his own welfare in peril for that needed play or that extra yard that inspires others around him to go into that extra gear so that you know you have a chance of greatness and can take control of the game.

On a side note, Sieler didn’t have a great game, but you did see him make some splash plays when they were needed in the final stretch. Hope that is something he can bring back for four quarters every game. Malik Willis didn’t have a terrible game, but he did little to make me believe he will be the difference-maker we so needed to get this rebuild on the fast track. That is just one game, and we have given him the season to earn the title of “franchise quarterback.”

Malik Willis, you are officially on Lo-Fi’s watch list.