Malik Willis may have played his way into a starting job, somewhere: Quick Outs
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Derrik Klassen
Willis could have a surprisingly robust market once he hits free agency. Also, we're not showing enough love to Bijan Robinson's play.
Even as the NFL regular season winds down, playoff berths come into focus and eliminated teams start looking toward next season, we’re still seeing things around the league we didn’t necessarily expect.
Case in point: the Week 17 performance of Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis. He’s our topic for QB charting in this week’s “Quick Outs.” Also on the schedule:
Bijan Robinson’s remarkable, yet relatively unappreciated, performance this season.
What made Drake Maye’s TD pass to Rhamondre Stevenson so impressive?
How far can this version of Brock Purdy carry the 49ers?
Willis officially ended his day with 18 completions on 21 attempts, but he only missed two throws — one of those three incompletions was a clear drop by a running back in the flat. His two true misses came on a deep shot down the left sideline that he left out of bounds, and a quick out to Christian Watson that he put just a bit too far inside.
It wasn’t like Willis was dinking and dunking, either. The Packers called an aggressive game. Willis opened the game with back-to-back deep shots, one to Romeo Doubs down the left side, then a touchdown versus Tampa-2 coverage down the right hash for Watson.
Willis was nailing several other go balls and deep out-breaking routes toward the sideline, as well. That’s where you saw the raw arm talent that had people excited about Willis in the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s got the kind of velocity that can fit tight windows, not to mention a lightning-quick release to go with it.
Of course, the backup QB wasn’t perfect. Willis and the offense had a few operational miscues. Some of the sacks and late-in-the-down scramble plays were Willis’ fault for turning down throws. He didn’t attempt a dig route late in the second quarter that Jordan Love likely would’ve thrown, instead hitting a checkdown for a couple of yards.
All in all, though, Willis played like he was one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the league. He’s been decent in spot duty for the Packers before, and against the Ravens was undoubtedly his best performance to date.
In a league desperate for functional, talented quarterbacks and utterly lacking in other veteran options this offseason, it’s easy to see a world in which some team tries to extrapolate enough from Willis’ handful of quality performances to give him a shot.
Whether that’s a sound idea, I’m not so sure yet, but plenty of other worse (and less-talented) backup quarterbacks have gotten those kinds of chances before.
Starters such as Kyler Murray, Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa will require trades to acquire them, too, whereas Willis will be a free agent this spring. He’ll probably have some market.
Stat check: Bijan Robinson quietly leads NFL in scrimmage yards
Robinson’s performance on “Monday Night Football” against the Los Angeles Rams was impressive. Still, the Atlanta Falcons running back will have one of the quietest seasons ever for a player who leads the league in scrimmage yards.
Through 16 games, Robinson holds a comfortable edge. He has racked up 2,255 yards from scrimmage this season (1,445 on the ground and 810 through the air). The only player joining him in the 2K club so far this season is 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (2,069 scrimmage yards), with Jonathan Taylor (1,924) and his fizzled-out offensive player of the year case trailing a little further behind.
Robinson also finds himself in rare territory when stacked up against the backs of the last decade. The only two players to gain more scrimmage yards in a season than Robinson’s current total (never mind that he has one more game left) were McCaffrey in 2019 and Saquon Barkley in 2024. The former somehow was bested for OPOY honors because Michael Thomas caught seven thousand passes that season; Barkley won the award last season.
Comparing running backs and receivers from a pure yardage perspective can be tricky. Even if we boil it down to running backs who previously won OPOY, Robinson has outproduced them. He has more yards than McCaffrey did when he won in 2023, or Derrick Henry when he won in 2020 or Todd Gurley when he won in 2017.
The difference is that those three backs played for better teams and, therefore, had the narrative surge behind them. Robinson’s season is more like McCaffrey’s 2019 performance with the Panthers — a mostly futile, volume effort on a losing team.
For that reason, I understand why Robinson won’t sniff the award. There’s more pop to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua and even McCaffrey — and their respective teams — than to Robinson or the Falcons.
However, Robinson is an undeniably special player. If the Falcons can work themselves into the spotlight at some point in the next few seasons, their star running back will get his shot at bringing home NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Anatomy of a highlight: Drake Maye’s passing TD to Rhamondre Stevenson
Maye’s perfect quarterbacking had to make the cut in some form this week.
Maybe a “Stat check” on Maye being the second quarterback since the merger to throw at least 20 passes with a completion rate of at least 90 percent and five or more touchdowns would have made the most sense. Or, perhaps, he deserved a “Scramble drill,” declaring him the MVP. How about a second QB-charting profile, which would’ve made him the only quarterback this season to have that spotlight?
No, that’s all too broad. Instead, let’s hone in on one of Maye’s five touchdowns Sunday: a 22-yard toss to Stevenson.
It’s third-and-7 and the New York Jets are bringing heat. They’re playing Cover 1 without a hole player over the middle — just pure man-to-man with a deep safety. Up front, they technically bring six rushers, but the weakside end “peels” off to take the running back in coverage, once it’s clear the back is going out for a route and not staying in to protect.
That plays right into New England’s hands. Stevenson scoots out of the backfield and takes off down the field on a deep-corner route. The lone receiver to that side of the field, rookie Kyle Williams, clears out the area with a deep post. Williams’ post route threatens that deep-middle safety, not giving him any chance to help defend Stevenson’s route.
Stevenson wins the favorable coverage matchup against the dropping defensive lineman, and Maye finds him in stride while a Jets defender puts a hand through his chest in the pocket.
In the end, it looks like easy pitch and catch, but it’s a great job by the Patriots staff to pick on both the Jets’ man-coverage tendencies and their attempt at using the defensive end to “peel” off in coverage on the running back.
Needle-mover: Brock Purdy
The more Brock Purdy plays, the healthier and more comfortable he looks. The healthier and more comfortable Purdy looks, the scarier the San Francisco 49ers get as the postseason nears.
Before we go into the offense, I know there’s a separate discussion to be had about the defense and what that unit means for this team’s chances to win it all. It’s arguably the worst defense set to make the postseason, and it’s unlikely any reinforcements are coming.
However, there’s a case on the other end that a healthy 49ers offense is the most dangerous unit in the entire playoff hunt, because Purdy is back in the lineup.
On a down-to-down basis, this offense can hum. The array of McCaffrey, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, with Kyle Shanahan pulling the strings, is going to make life easy on any passer. But even a perfectly crafted and talented offense won’t be right on every play, and that’s where Purdy comes in.
He has been sensational with his legs the last few weeks, both as a runner and as a passer outside the pocket.
Just last week against the Bears, Purdy registered 10 dropbacks outside the pocket, according to TruMedia. He only threw the ball on half of those plays, but he completed 4 of 5 for 22 yards and two touchdowns, as well as a third-and-6 conversion to Jake Tonges in the fourth quarter.
On the other five plays, Purdy scrambled four times for 21 yards and a touchdown while taking just one sack.
Those totals don’t even include Purdy’s role as a designed runner, something the offense desperately lacked both before Purdy became the starter and anytime he missed action. Shanahan called Purdy’s number on an option play in the first half against the Bears that had him waltz into the end zone.
More likely than not, the 49ers will run into some better defenses in the playoffs that can take advantage of the floater or two Purdy tends to throw over the middle, but the other 70 or so plays from this offense each game are electric. Purdy is playing at a high level, and the 49ers have the skill-player talent at every position to be nearly indefensible.
Even if the 49ers’ playoff hopes require them to win shootout after shootout, they look like they’re up to the task.