Dolphins sign 'unproven' Willis to three-year deal
Mike Florio discusses the Miami Dolphins' reported three-year deal with Malik Willis worth $67.5 million total and how both sides get an opportunity for a fresh start.
Video Transcript
One of the most intriguing names in free agency this year, quarterback Malik Willis, who has a very limited sample size.
His time at Tennessee wasn't great.
The Titans gave him away to the Packers for a seventh-round pick so when he becomes a free agent after having two spectacular seasons in very limited work in Green Bay what happens next?
And I said all along, the two teams to watch were the Cardinals and the Dolphins if they aren't seriously interested in Malik Willis, that's a red flag for everyone else.
If they are, it's confirmation that, especially in Miami, which is where he's agreed to terms, new coach Jeff Hafley, new GM John Eric Sullivan, they learned enough about Willis from everything that was going on behind the scenes, in practice, in meetings, how he carries himself, how he conducts himself, how he goes about his business.
They are in a position to know more than anyone else is going to know directly about Malik Willis.
The Cardinals were the other one because Mike LaFleur, the new head coach, is the brother of Matt LaFleur, the head coach in Green Bay, and presumably, you know, they still like each other and they talk.
Regardless, the Dolphins made the move, and the Dolphins get him.
What I'm seeing so far by way of value looks like The Athletic is reporting three years, sixty-seven point five.
That puts him right in the middle of the range at twenty-two point five that we suggested based upon conversations with folks at the Combine was the range to watch, twenty to twenty-five million per year.
He's untested largely as a week-in and week-out q- starting quarterback.
He's fully unproven, and I'm surprised it's three years.
I would've pushed for two year, maybe even one year.
But this is a good deal for the Dolphins because it gives them three years to let Malik Willis develop into the guy that they hope he can be.
The structure's gonna be interesting because they're taking sixty-seven million plus this year in dead money for Tua Tagovailoa's contract.
But you can, you can put these things together in a way that pushes a lot of the cap charge into future years, and next year and the year after is the time to dump that money because this year they're dealing with so much as a result of the disastrous Tua Tagovailoa deal.
And you look at the contracts they've given to their last two quarterbacks, Tua got fifty-three, Malik Willis gets less than half of that.
But it's still more than anybody expected Malik Willis was ever gonna get based upon his first two years with the Tennessee Titans.
He has taken the opportunity that he had in Green Bay when he replaced Jordan Love, the performances he had, the impression he made on Jeff Hafley, who was the defensive coordinator, and John Eric Sullivan, who was in the front office.
Their first order of business after making it clear this morning that they're moving on from Tua is to get a deal done with their new starting quarterback, Malik Willis.
