Jarrett Stidham and Malik Willis were Auburn teammates in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. On Sunday, both played quarterback in NFL preseason games. But what happens next might be different for them.
With yet another former Auburn quarterback, Bo Nix, winning the competition to be the Denver starter, Stidham figures to slot into the No. 2 spot, and he warmed up for the role in the Broncos’ preseason finale on Sunday. On Denver’s opening series, Stidham completed 2-of-4 passes for 28 yards as he guided the Broncos on a 10-play, 55-yard touchdown drive, then took a seat as Zach Wilson finished the 38-12 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Preparing for his sixth NFL season, Stidham had his best opportunity to be a team’s No. 1 quarterback this year. Willis has not had that opportunity yet, but he has three starts in his two seasons as the Tennessee Titans’ backup quarterback.
This year, the Titans signed Mason Rudolph from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Willis has been in a battle to retain the No. 2 spot behind Will Levis.
On Sunday, after Rudolph completed 11-of-15 passes for 114 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions and produced two field goals on four series against the New Orleans Saints, Willis threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes as Tennessee pulled out a 30-27 victory.
Willis tossed a 34-yard TD pass to wide receiver Bryce Oliver as the Titans took a 23-20 lead with 9:40 to play, then connected on a 5-yard scoring pass to Oliver with 1:25 left to put Tennessee in front again – this time for good.
During four possessions, Willis completed 3-of-4 passes for 51 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and ran three times for 29 yards.
In three preseason games, Willis completed 20-of-27 passes for 205 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and ran 11 times for 101 yards. Willis was the Titans’ leading rusher during the preseason.
With the end of the preseason on Sunday, each NFL team must have its 90-player roster down to 53 active players by 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday.
“It’s out of my hands,” Willis said after the game when addressing what’s next for him. “More than anything, it’s just control what I can control as far as all that goes and just try to do my best to put some good stuff on tape.”
After the game, Tennessee coach Brian Callahan was asked about the possibility of keeping three quarterbacks on the active roster.
“Those are conversations we’re going to have to have over the next couple of days,” Callahan said. “To Malik’s credit and to Mason’s credit, they’ve made it a very challenging decision because they’ve both played really well, and I think that’s a good problem to have. But that decision isn’t necessarily related to their play, I think, is the point that I need to make. Whatever we decide to do there, it’s probably based on whatever else we need to do on the roster and not necessarily just their play, so however that shakes out, I think those guys have both shown they’re very capable NFL quarterbacks.”
