The Tennessee Titans are seeing a battle for the backup quarterback competition in training camp between Mason Rudolph and Malik Willis. On Sunday, head coach Brian Callahan more than hinted who is ahead in that battle.
Both players have performed well in camp, with Willis’ showing being especially noteworthy because of the struggles he’s had over the past two years. However, that hasn’t led to the Liberty product getting second-team reps, which have been dominated by Rudolph. Instead, Willis has been running with the threes.
Entering training camp, Callahan said both quarterbacks would have an equal shot to win the job, but it’s clear they are favoring Rudolph based on how the second-team reps have been divvied up.
When asked about Willis seeing second-team reps, Callahan said he would get them at some point, but also noted the team doesn’t want to “demote” Rudolph by putting him with the third team.
Callahan said Malik Willis will get some reps with the second unit at some point, but Mason Rudolph has been good as well and they don’t want to “demote” him.
— Terry McCormick (@terrymc13) August 4, 2024
“They’re gonna both get a fair shake at the [QB]2 job,” Callahan said in June. “They’ll split reps pretty evenly. They’ll get a chance to play quite a bit in the preseason.”
You would think that the Titans would want to get a look at Willis with the twos in order to compare him to Rudolph with the same cast of players, but clearly that hasn’t been the case thus far. We’ll see if that changes in the preseason.
Rudolph winning the backup job would be the least surprising thing ever, as he was fully expected to do so going into the offseason program. However, Willis has no doubt made things closer than expected and improved his stock in the process.
