On the surface, Saturday night's quarterback matchup of Malik Willis versus Tyler Huntley doesn't give NFL fans much to be excited about. It's certainly not the showdown between Lamar Jackson and Jordan Love that the league was expecting when it put this matchup in an island spot on the weekend after Christmas. But there are still plenty of stakes, both for the teams involved and for Packers backup QB Malik Willis.
Green Bay has enjoyed having Willis serve as a high-quality backup for Love over the last two seasons. They will almost certainly lose that luxury after the conclusion of their current campaign. Willis is set to hit unrestricted free agency and will be looking for an opportunity to become a starter again after flaming out in Tennessee.
The real question Willis needs to answer is just how much money he can earn on the open market. He may not possess superstar upside, but he's shown a clear-cut ability to be a quality starter during his efforts in relief of Love. Those sorts of signal-callers don't hit the open market often and numerous teams will be interested in retaining Willis' services the moment free agency begins.
Drafted in round three in 2022 and traded by the Titans to the Packers for a seventh-round pick in 2024, QB Malik Willis has performed well in Green Bay. With free-agency looming, he gets a prime-time start against the Ravens. https://t.co/CXERmDtULn
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 27, 2025
Every quarterback-needy team that is currently projected to take a new offensive leader early in Round 1 should consider Willis as a reasonable alternative. The Jets and Raiders are two franchises who need much more than a new franchise quarterback before they achieve NFL relevance. If their front offices aren't convinced they can nab a star in this year's draft, they could easily pivot and sign Willis instead as a stopgap option.
But the better landing spots for Willis are with teams that have better supporting casts. He benefits from Green Bay's excellent ground game at the moment, and there's always a chance that dropping him into a less comfortable ecosystem might cause the warts that allowed the Packers to acquire him on the cheap reappear.
How much can Malik Willis make in NFL free agency?
As a reminder, quarterbacks are routinely paid large sums of money by teams who lack a quality option at the game's most important position. As evidence, Justin Fields got a two-year, $40 million dollar deal from the Jets as a free agent last year.
That contract is the absolute floor for Willis if he plays well against Baltimore's rugged defense. A more interesting salary comparison for him is the contract Sam Darnold was able to garner from the Seahawks. Willis has not achieved what Darnold has at this stage of his career, but he's got tantalizing upside that could cause a team to overpay him on the open market with a shorter-term deal at a high AAV.
In the end, look for his contract to land somewhere in between Fields and Darnold's deals. Term might be as big of a question as dollars for teams interested in Willis. Ultimately, a four-year deal paying him somewhere around $110 million seems like a reasonable contract for all sides. That number could push higher if Willis puts on a show against the Ravens on the national stage.