When it comes to giving big compliments to his players — and especially the younger ones — Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t exactly hand them out like candy.
That’s why his statement about second-year quarterback Malik Willis showing “glaring improvement” this spring really jumped out at us.
Vrabel made the comment during his first press conference of training camp on Tuesday when asked about the 2022 third-round pick, who, as expected, struggled during a rookie campaign in which he wasn’t supposed to see the field, but did because of an injury to Ryan Tannehill.
“I thought Malik [Willis] came out of the spring with glaring improvement,” Vrabel said, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport, while also noting that rookie quarterback Will Levis, “learned about what it takes to be an NFL QB.”
“We feel good about where we’re at,” Vrabel added, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “You can’t have too many quarterbacks, and hopefully they’re all good ones and that we’ll have tough decisions. It was fun to see the guys improve.”
To be clear, take what Vrabel said about Levis with a grain of salt in terms of his long-term outlook. The Kentucky product is a rookie and nobody expects him to show much in the earliest parts of his first offseason.
But the quote about Willis is very notable.
After all, Willis, who is competing with Levis for the No. 2 job, and by all accounts was better during the offseason program, is in danger of not being on this team if he can’t outperform Levis in the weeks ahead.
Granted, we’re still a ways out from this competition being decided, as the real evaluations take place when the pads come on at training camp, and when both players take the field during the preseason.
But there’s no question Willis appears to be moving in the right direction in his quest to remain in Tennessee in 2023.
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