Malik Willis, perhaps our new GM has our Qb? | Page 69 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Malik Willis, perhaps our new GM has our Qb?

Bears QB Tyson Bagent Drawing Interest
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2026/02/bears-qb-tyson-bagent-drawing-interest

FEBRUARY 26: The Bears will need “a significant package of picks and/or players” to move Bagent, per Essentially Sports’ Tony Pauline. It is hard to imagine a team getting that aggressive on such an unproven passer, but the renaissance of quarterback reclamation projects could encourage one to acquire Bagent and his cheap contract. He is only owed $8.5MM over the next two years. His $4MM salary in 2026 is set to guarantee in March, per OverTheCap, but a team acquiring him would be planning to pay that money either way
 
From Chris Perkins:


You wonder whether Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley are willing to risk it all on Green Bay quarterback Malik Willis.

Because that’s what they’d be doing if they sign the 26-year-old Willis, who they know from their two years together in Green Bay, to a multi-year free-agent contract.

Sullivan and Hafley would be risking everything from owner Steve Ross’ money to Sullivan’s vow to “infuse competition” into the quarterback room.

They’d be risking their credibility with Dolphins fans if Willis wasn’t an instant hit. Worse, they could be risking the entire rebuild.

Frankly speaking, Sullivan and Hafley would be putting their reputations on the line by signing Willis, who has never been a full-time starter.

Willis, at a smallish 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, only has six games of starting experience in four seasons: two with Tennessee, which made him a third-round pick in 2022 and a backup behind Ryan Tannehill and Will Levis, and two in Green Bay, where he was a backup to Jordan Love.

That’s not exactly a Who’s Who list of starting quarterbacks that Willis couldn’t beat for the No. 1 job.

Against that backdrop, Willis would be installed as Miami’s starter if he signed with the Dolphins.


Common sense says if you sign a quarterback to, say, a three-year, $80 million deal, which roughly what Willis will command, he’s your starter. Period.

Further, common sense says no, there wouldn’t be training camp competition.

And to think it was only Tuesday when Sullivan remarked at the NFL Scouting Combine that his job is to “infuse competition” into the quarterback room.

Willis is the no-brainer starter if he signs with the Dolphins.

If Willis doesn’t start, the Dolphins could be spending close to $100 million for non-starting quarterbacks next season — Tua Tagovailoa (if they cut him and give him a post-June 1 designation) and Willis (if he’s on the bench as a backup).

It would be a bad look on a few levels.

It would be bad financially, obviously, to be spending around $92 million on two quarterbacks in 2026, and neither is your starter.

It also wouldn’t speak well for the new regime’s judgement, signing a quarterback who lost a training camp competition for the starting job to a multi-year contract.

And it would be the organization’s second consecutive questionable quarterback contract (after Tua).

Looking at the bright side of things, Sullivan and Hafley could be deemed geniuses if they sign Willis and he’s the answer.

That’s a possibility.

Sullivan and Hafley have unique insight into Willis’ skill set and mentality.

They should know better than any others whether Willis, who is impressively agile, can do the job.

And remember, Willis (105 of 155 in his career for 1,322 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions and a 98.9 passer rating) doesn’t have to be an All Pro-level quarterback. He can simply be timely and effective, such as Seattle’s Sam Darnold, the reigning Super Bowl champ, or Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl champ from two seasons ago.

It should go without saying that if the Dolphins sign Willis you’d hope that Sullivan and Hafley would be smart enough to build around him. The Dolphins failed to do that with Tannehill and Tua. Instead, they thought their head coaches could magically turn those quarterbacks into Hall of Famers and the franchise ended up wasting the vast majority of those years.

You know my feelings on the Dolphins acquiring Willis. I think it’d be a bad idea.

However, if Sullivan and Hafley think differently, that’s fine.
 
Tyler Desena says Willis should be making more than 30 mill per year:

Nobody cared about Malik Willis in August 2023. That quickly, he was written off by his employer. The Tennessee Titans saw him throw the ball 61 times as a rookie and decided enough was enough in selecting Kentucky’s Will Levis with the 33rd overall pick.

This sultry summer day, he finished up a joint practice at the Minnesota Vikings’ pristine Eagen, Minn., campus and wasn’t approached by anyone. As the practice fields started to empty, he walked toward the sideline solo.

Our chat was brief. But when I asked what’s different in Year 2 — why he is still hopeful — Willis’ confidence was striking.
“I know the plays,” Willis said then. “That’s the biggest difference — literally. They think, ‘He’s trash.’ No, I just needed to learn the offense.”

There was no hesitation in his voice. Willis fully expected to excel in the NFL… at some point.

That season, he only attempted five passes. The next, he was traded to the Green Bay Packers and the sensation probably felt something like strapping on an astronaut’s suit and traveling to a new planet. Off two weeks of practice, Willis competently steered the Packers to a pair of victories over Indianapolis and Tennessee. The narrative of his career started to change. Matt LaFleur helped mold his game.

And in 2025, he showed enough in 1 1/2 games to warrant a life-changing contract.

Both were losses. But against Chicago and Baltimore, Willis went 30 of 35 (85.7 percent) for 422 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions as a passer, while also dizzying defenders for 123 rushing yards and two scores. The sample size was minuscule compared to free agent quarterbacks past. Yet, tantalizing. His timing is legendary. A fourth of the league is quarterback-hunting on a barren prairie.

Very rarely do any vets make it to free agency, of course. But this year’s draft is also devoid of starting-caliber talents beyond Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. Even the griftiest of grifters in the industry have yet to hitch their wagon to the likes of Carson Beck.
All of which drives up the price of that quarterback that only cost Green Bay the 239th overall pick. Reports suggest Willis could net a contract north of $30 million per year. The sight of last year’s Super Bowl-winning quarterback — another player left for dead — has further opened up the minds of general managers to a new calculus. Many of these quarterback-needy clubs would love to pay a winning QB in the $30M-$35M range.

Odds are, Willis is the only one who gets a deal in that range.
Who’s willing to pay the most? Which fit is best?

With the right team, perhaps Malik Willis enjoys his own fairy-tale ending.

Sticker shock is expected. Stars are aligning for Willis. Not only does he have remarkably weak competition — those who know him best have taken over other franchises. Mike LaFleur, Matt’s brother, is the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. The Miami Dolphins’ new GM (Jon Eric-Sullivan) and head coach (Jeff Hafley) witnessed his rise, his work ethic daily in Green Bay. Even Arizona GM Monti Ossenfort was in Tennessee when the Titans selected Willis in the 2022 draft.

The New York Jets are perpetually in desperation mode. Flush with $91 million of cap space, they’ve got the ability to hand Willis a blank check.

Granted, this 26-year-old can be choosy.
The beauty of this all is that, similar to Darnold signing with a strong Seattle roster, he has a real opportunity to join a good team ready to be great.

We’ve posited that the Houston Texans should at least explore a new quarterback path with how their offense unraveled in January. GM Nick Caserio slammed the door on any change, calling rumors of trading C.J. Stroud “moronic.” We’ll see if this faith pays off. No team spent more cash in 2025 than the Minnesota Vikings. But with this weaponry? This defense? Willis could be the piece that boomerangs a 9-8 team back into that 12- win range. Spine-twisting cap gymnastics would be required. Of note, Kevin O’Connell was not nearly as defensive as Caserio when discussing J.J. McCarthy.

The Indianapolis Colts were 8-2 before losing seven straight. Willis may be everything Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen thought they were getting in Anthony Richardson. His accuracy’s in another stratosphere.

No general managers at the NFL Combine ever tip their hand. Press conferences in Indianapolis are worthless word salads. But Eric-Sullivan had the quote of the week when asked about Willis. Miami’s GM said that every QB-needy team is “lying” if they say they’re not talking about Willis.

That’s what makes the Pittsburgh Steelers’ stance so baffling. Right here is the team that should be doing everything in its power to acquire an ascending talent at the position. Instead, the words spoken by GM Omar Khan at the Combine were as welcoming as a blindside hit from Greg Lloyd. Despite seeing this Aaron Rodgers experience officially max out, the Steelers apparently want to run it back.

That is, if Rodgers does as well.

“The door is open to have Aaron back,” Khan told the media. “I’ve had conversations with him, I spoke to him last week. Mike McCarthy spoke to him, and he knows how we feel about him, and right now we’re proceeding. He’s a free agent and he’s not on the roster but he knows how we feel about him.”

With a 42-year-old Rodgers, the zenith is a first-round playoff exit.
With an ascending Willis, the Steelers could inject new life into their organization. It is much needed! This week, the Steelers were voted the NFL’s worst organization in the leaked NFLPA survey. ESPN’s full reveal is damning. Owner Art Rooney II does not invest into the team’s facilities nearly as much as his peers, Pittsburgh had the lowest-rated home field “by a wide margin” and there’s also only five bathrooms for the entire team to use.

The locker room received an F grade. The Steelers’ strength staff also ranked 32nd of 32 teams.

Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson are both back in full next season.
Rodgers himself has lamented the effects of Father Time.
OK, Rooney has publicly declared that he never… ever… not in a billion years… wants the Steelers to “rebuild.” The idea repulses him. Pittsburgh has the richest defense in football, led by T.J. Watt at $41M per year. That doesn’t mean you need to wait around for Rodgers to call you back. The entire exercise is even more pathetic now than it was last year, when Pittsburgh waited until June. Khan looks weak. McCarthy, too. This is the same head coach who was emasculated by Rodgers at the end of their Packers days together. Good luck staking your third head-coaching job on this brittle relationship again. When rumors first started to fly that McCarthy was open to a reunion with Rodgers, I texted one former Packers player who I’d describe as a pro-Rodgers source on my Bleacher Report story in 2019.

His tone flipped. He actually doesn’t mind the hire itself for a team with real talent.

But this player who witnessed the Rodgers-McCarthy dynamic firsthand said the two would go right back to fighting because the quarterback “holds a grudge like no other.”

There were moments of bliss last season — like his AFC North-clinching victory over Baltimore — but, in the end, Rodgers’ ceiling was painfully obvious. The Houston Texans nearly sent him into a nursing home. The Steelers need to realize they do possess the agency to politely tell a 42-year-old who played like he was 72 that they’re moving on.

McCarthy has never been shy to broadcast his quarterback bonafides. He helped change Rodgers’ funky throwing motion those early Packers days. Let’s see if he can capture lightning in a bottle with Willis.

All backup quarterbacks who light it up come with a buyer-beware tag. There’s a difference between an athletic quarterback slicing up a defense on the fly vs. producing at a high level when that same defense has a full week to prepare. Quarterbacks who burn defenders in the open field always come with high, high risk. Three years ago, Justin Fields was everyone’s hot MVP pick. After electrocuting defenses with his speed the previous season, the Bears QB vowed to become the first Bear to throw for 4,000 yards.
He went 3-14. He has proven to be more YouTube highlight reel than sustainable starter.

Size may be a concern. Willis measured 6-0 ½, 223 at the Combine.
He’s from Liberty. Not the SEC.

I get the apprehension. But zero in on those completions from last season’s cameo and that $30M figure starts to make more sense. Willis showed an ability, unlike Fields, to operate both in the pocket and the RPO game. His athleticism is A+. He spins, jukes, pump-fakes, tears through tacklers. Several times, he’s cornered by defenders and somehow escapes. But there’s also velocity, touch and accuracy on his passes downfield. He’s unafraid.




Context matters. The 2026 draft class is a dart throw from two bars away. By April, teams will not want to be left standing during this game of musical chairs.

This could also lead to an active trade market. Don’t be surprised if a handful of No. 2’s could get their shot at being a No. 1 again. Mac Jones looked revitalized under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. Indy’s Richardson is seeking a trade. Tyson Bagent, the Bears backup, is generating interest. Even someone like Spencer Rattler in New Orleans could warrant a look. The New Orleans Saints are building around Tyler Shough. Draft currency a team would theoretically spend on a player like Miami’s Beck would probably be better served on a quarterback who’s already been dodging those NFL bullets. Experience is invaluable. If Darnold taught us anything, it’s that a quarterback can raise his own ceiling and excel in a more ideal setting.

Thing is, these situations are not all the same. After his herculean Combine performance, Richardson was drafted fourth overall. He’s been a disaster. And long before he tapped out of a football game as the Colts starter, there were red flags. Our Bob McGinn reported this nugget on Richardson’s college days. In April ’22, Richardson received a ticket for driving 105 mph in a 60-mph zone at 4:11 a.m. Two months later, he was seen drunk at the Manning Passing Academy. Per McGinn, police became angry when he leaned on a squad car and camp staffers rushed him into a van as the QB screamed an obscenity. No arrest was made.

Two mistakes in such rapid-fire succession expose an obvious lack of maturity.

Willis, unlike Richardson, has displayed maturity through his ups and downs. Everyone in Green Bay raves about his work ethic. Former Packers teammate Sean Clifford wrote this on X: “I know firsthand it’s never been about money or headlines for him,” he wrote, “but it’s about the work, the faith, and showing up every single day chasing the dream the right way.”

Willis, unlike Jones, is an explosive weapon.

Willis, unlike Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa, has untapped upside. We’ve seen those two start a combined 163 games.
Fields makes $20 million per year. The next highest is Baker Mayfield at $33.3M. Given the current quarterback landscape, Willis can easily command a deal closer to the latter. That may make it difficult for those Dolphins to enter a bidding war. Eric-Sullivan is in the process of eating $200 million to tear down the roster. Miami hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years, but Willis surely noticed that owner Stephen Ross received an A+ grade on that NFLPA report card. Arizona is sneaky intriguing. Pros? Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson are a solid trio of pass catchers. Cons? Michael Bidwill is one of the worst owners in the NFL and these Cardinals are also stuck in the same division as three legit Super Bowl contenders.

There’s a ton for Willis and his representatives to digest and weigh as free agency closes in.

A look back to McGinn’s 2022 draft series is telling. Scouts were not high on this group of quarterbacks. But one scout’s take on Willis — four years later — has a chance to come to fruition.

“He’s not the most ready right now but he’s by far No. 1 on this list,” the scout said. “He’s got the best arm of the group. He throws a pretty looking ball. He’s super athletic. He’s a really good kid. He’s going to take some time as far as mental development, but as far as physical talent this guy has everything. You hope for a situation when KC drafted Mahomes. They didn’t have to play him right away. It’s gonna take some balls to pick him but you’ve gotta have brains also.”

The Titans were too rickety of an organization to see this project through. One (brief) sight of Willis as a rookie, and they panicked. They drafted Levis. Matt LaFleur isn’t Andy Reid, but he is a damn good teacher of the position. Two years of sharp coaching and Willis turned a corner behind the scenes. Light bulbs went off.
When he took the field last season, that NFL speed slowed down for him. He was never “trash.” Willis believed he had it in him all along. Finally, those elite physical gifts had a chance to shine.
His price tag may seem rich in the present, but come December — in the right situation? — don’t be surprised if $30 mill per year looks more like a bargain.

Rooney doesn’t want to pay for a sixth toilet at the Steelers’ facility. Fine. He should strongly consider ponying up for Malik Willis.
 
Always interesting hearing these reports on Willis' value. Many now saying $30m+ over multiple years. You can be certain these kind of numbers are being floated by his agent and/or people from teams who are not in the market.

Initially most were using the Justin Fields contract as a basis i.e. $30m guaranteed over 2 years. Since then the figure has doubled without any real change in Willis' situation. What will probably happen is a deal somewhere in the middle. Its irrelevant what people speculate on his value. What matters is the offers that are actually made.
 
Fin Fan in NC said:
Bears QB Tyson Bagent Drawing Interest
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2026/02/bears-qb-tyson-bagent-drawing-interest

FEBRUARY 26: The Bears will need “a significant package of picks and/or players” to move Bagent, per Essentially Sports’ Tony Pauline. It is hard to imagine a team getting that aggressive on such an unproven passer, but the renaissance of quarterback reclamation projects could encourage one to acquire Bagent and his cheap contract. He is only owed $8.5MM over the next two years. His $4MM salary in 2026 is set to guarantee in March, per OverTheCap, but a team acquiring him would be planning to pay that money either way
Click to expand...

More than a 6th or 7th for Bagent would be insanity
Almost as insane as offering a 2nd round pick for AJ Feeley
 
Look Over Here Steve Carell GIF









 
Dark Matter said:
Commentators and media need to find something to write about. Everything we hear is all just speculation at this stage. Truth will come out in the next week or two.
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Legal tampering starts on Mar 9th (next Tuesday)
 
Dark Matter said:
Commentators and media need to find something to write about. Everything we hear is all just speculation at this stage. Truth will come out in the next week or two.
Click to expand...

There are those who think he won't get close to that on the market.

All it takes is two teams to get into a bidding war.
 
MrChadRico said:
Look Over Here Steve Carell GIF









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While I'm not a fan a bringing in a QB unless someone really thinks he is the answer, 2 year for 40, isn't something that hurts the franchise much if its a miss. I don't know much about this kid, however we did just bring two guys from GB who do know this kid. It depends if they think Ewers has something, or if they would rather try to find one next year.

I'm starting to have concerns about QBs because of the money in college for them makes the 3rd round types stay in school until they are 25. Then you're trying to develop a 25 year Allar type, which could work....but.
 
Mr Fan said:
While I'm not a fan a bringing in a QB unless someone really thinks he is the answer, 2 year for 40, isn't something that hurts the franchise much if its a miss. I don't know much about this kid, however we did just bring two guys from GB who do know this kid. It depends if they think Ewers has something, or if they would rather try to find one next year.

I'm starting to have concerns about QBs because of the money in college for them makes the 3rd round types stay in school until they are 25. Then you're trying to develop a 25 year Allar type, which could work....but.
Click to expand...
I have hope for Ewers.... but zero expectations. If they are sold on Willis, then ill support it. Im not gonna lose sleep over it either way.

I absolutely think the Ewers fanclub is borderline insane to have such faith in a 7th round rookie QB. That same fanclub would be Willis's biggest supporters the second they heard we signed him, its just how some of our fans are. They underrate and hate on any player thats not a Dolphin and the second we sign them, they go 180* in the opposite direction and fall head over heals in love with them.
 
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