Why Liberty’s Malik Willis is QB1 in the 2022 NFL Draft
By Evan Bachman
Liberty quarterback Malik Willis has been phenomenal this season and has skyrocketed up to the number one quarterback in this class.
The 2022 NFL Draft quarterback class is a tricky one to evaluate because while there’s plenty of potential first rounders, there’s no obvious top quarterback in the class. However that appears that it might be changing with what Malik Willis has done this season.
Coming into this season I saw Malik Willis as a first rounder, in fact in a mock draft that I did a few weeks ago I had him as the third quarterback off the board and 10th pick overall. It’s clear that he has all the tools to develop into a good starting quarterback, however he hadn’t yet shown enough consistency as a passer given that he plays a low-level of competition for me to feel confident enough to make him QB1.
This season he has proven himself and then some as he’s shown a lot of improvement in all areas of his game and simply has just had a terrific season through five games.
As a passer, he’s shown the consistency that is necessary of a someone worthy of being the first quarterback off the board. He’s always had the arm strength, but this season he’s shown more accuracy as his adjusted completion percentage has gone from 73.6% to 80.2% and has limited negative plays significantly.
Last season a big knock on his game is that according to PFF he had 20 big time throws and 19 turnover worthy throws, which is not a good ratio, especially considering his competition level. This season, through just five games he’s limited his turnover worthy plays to just two and has already racked up 15 big time throws, for a big time throw rate of 13.3% which is not only the highest in the country, but is over 3% higher than the next highest.
As a runner, he has been phenomenal, he’s rushed for 501 yards and six touchdowns. He is a very good athlete, his speed, elusiveness, and strength make him very hard to bring down, in fact he’s forced 35 missed tackles on just 33 rushing attempts, which is simply an absurd ratio.
At the end of the day, while he does play at a low level of competition, Malik Willis has shown with his play this season that he is worthy of being the first quarterback off the board in this draft, especially with the inconsistent play of Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell.