With a need at quarterback, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been naturally linked to QB Malik Willis, who is widely expected to be the best quarterback available on the free agent market. While Willis has minimal starting experience, he’s played well the last two seasons in relief of Green Bay Packers starting QB Jordan Love.
Willis was considered one of the best quarterback prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. Ahead of his free agency, it’s been speculated that Willis could get a contract similar to the one former Steelers QB Justin Fields signed with the New York Jets last offseason. If that’s the case, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that Willis won’t wind up in Pittsburgh.
“I could tell you that they did not want to do two years and $40 million for Justin Fields. They’re certainly not gonna do that for Malik Willis,” Fittipaldo said on The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan.
Fields had considerably more starting experience than Willis when he hit the open market last offseason, and he started six games for the Steelers in 2024. Given that the Steelers weren’t willing to match the Jets’ price for Fields, it makes sense that they wouldn’t get to the same dollar value for Willis. Willis only has six career starts and 155 passing attempts in his career, so any team paying him is gambling more on upside rather than production.
When he’s played lately, he’s been good. Willis was 30-35 with 422 yards and three touchdowns through the air while adding 22 carries for 123 yards and two touchdowns, but he only started one game in relief of Jordan Love last season. There’s a lot of upside with Willis, especially given that he worked under one of the game’s best offensive minds in Matt LaFleur the last two seasons. But there’s a lot of risk involved, as well. Given Fittipaldo’s statement, it’s a risk the Steelers would rather not absorb at $20 million per year.
If Willis’ market isn’t what it’s expected to be, maybe the Steelers could have interest. But there’s enough quarterback-needy teams and not enough quarterbacks to go around, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see Willis reach that $20 million per year threshold. That would price him out of Pittsburgh and leave the Steelers hoping for an Aaron Rodgers return, a reset through the draft or gamble with what they currently have in Mason Rudolph and Will Howard at quarterback.
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