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Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) passes the ball at training camp last week. Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Packers’ Malik Willis Is King of Funky-Arm-Angle Completions

Originally posted on Green Bay Packers on SI
By Bill Huber | Last updated Aug 9, 2025 11:33 AM ET

During the first team period at Green Bay Packers training camp on Wednesday, Malik Willis dropped back to pass. In an instant, defensive end Brenton Cox was in his face. In the blink of an eye – or maybe even faster – Willis pump-faked Cox into the air, then dropped his arm for sidearm flick-of-the-wrist completion to tight end Ben Sims.

A day earlier, he dipped his arm and zinged a pass for a two-point conversion. Really, barely a day goes by when Willis doesn’t find a path around defenders by utilizing some sort of funky arm angle to get the ball to the receiver.

“I played baseball and I’m not 6-7, so you got to find a way to get it to who we want to get it to and that’s, more than anything, the plan,” Willis said. “But it’s just trying to find that angle, find that lane that we can get the ball out.”

Willis’ baseball experience has helped. He played a lot of shortstop and third base in baseball, though he said he also pitched, played in the outfield and also played some catcher.

“I just like hitting,” he said with a smile.

Willis also likes completing passes. He’s completed a bunch of them during training camp by throwing them under armpits.

“More than anything, it’s just reacting,” he said. “Being able to just not think and go out there and be active and be instinctive to whatever you’re seeing and just try to stick with whatever the read is.”

Willis’ reliance on arm angles is equal parts necessity and feel for the game. At 6-foot 1/2, he’s in the 14th percentile among quarterbacks, according to his Relative Athletic Score, and 3 1/4 inches shorter than Jordan Love. Sometimes, throwing under a 6-foot-4 defensive lineman is easier than throwing over one or throwing between two.

Has he always been comfortable throwing it that way?

“Yeah, I think so, and you get more comfortable within a scheme and understanding what we’re trying to do,” he said. “Then you can just go out there and do it the best way that you see fit. That’s what it comes down to.”

It’s an unorthodox style, to be sure. What have his coaches thought of it over the years?

“You’d have to ask Coach. I don’t know,” Willis said. “They just want us to execute the play the way it’s coached and do what we can there.”

Coach Matt LaFleur is a stickler on fundamentals. Frequently over the years, he’s said the basis for good quarterback play is footwork. He said the team doesn’t necessarily drill for those sidearm throws, instead attributing it to Willis’ “innate” feel for the game.

“If somebody’s running at you and it’s a pass play, you’re going to try to do something to get them to react,” LaFleur said before veering into a coaching point about how Cox shouldn’t have left his feet.

Whatever the arm angle, Willis was outstanding last season. After three difficult seasons with the Titans, who drafted him in the third round in 2022, Willis joined the Packers at the end of training camp. Including two starts not long after joining the team, he completed 74.1 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Among all quarterbacks who threw at least 50 passes last year, Willis’ 124.8 passer rating was No. 1 in the league.

It was a small sample size, to be sure, but impressive, nonetheless. With a much more extensive knowledge of the offense, Willis has been sharp throughout training camp entering Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets.

“Obviously, giving him an opportunity to learn the offense, learn the concepts from the ground up, I think that’s super-valuable for him,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “Big thing (is) just working on his reads with his feet and making sure he’s on time with everything. I think that’s the biggest thing as far as throwing with him, and then just going out there and operating the offense, he’s done a pretty good job of that so far.”

Willis won both starts last season. He also came off the bench and made the key throw to beat Jacksonville, and he came off the bench at Chicago in Week 18 to put the Packers in position to win that game, as well.

Having proven he’s a capable quarterback who can win games, Willis has perhaps put himself in position to sign with another team in free agency next offseason with a chance to be a starter.

In typical Willis fashion, he downplayed the possibility.

“I don’t know how I’m viewed” around the league, he said. Tomorrow isn’t promised, let alone next year.

“I feel like we’ll see if an opportunity arises and I’m able to prove that,” Willis said earlier in camp. “That’s just the way this league goes. It’s a business and some people are able to prove it for a long period of time. Some people get three games as a rookie and that’s just the way it goes. So, you just stay around until you get an opportunity and take advantage of it when you do.”

This article first appeared on Green Bay Packers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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