Is Willis a good fit with Dolphins?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss the Dolphins' uncertain quarterback situation and break down the potential contract options for free agent quarterback Malik Willis.
Video Transcript
I think the Dolphins are the ultimate litmus test on Malik Willis, because if they're not in it for Willis, it's buyer beware.
Because you got two guys there in full alignment, who've been comparing notes for the last two years, forging a relationship that caused them to believe they could team up- Yeah and run a team together with no daylight between their opinions.
If John Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley don't believe in Malik Willis after being with him for two years, Hafley running the defense in Green Bay, seeing him in practice for two years, if they're not sold on him, be careful if you're taking that cheese based on the six games that you've seen.
And I know you're sold on him based on what you've seen.
Yeah.
But they've got more access- No, no doubt about it.
You're right, that would be- Than anyone else that would be a buyer beware situation.
I don't disagree with you there.
Yeah, that, that- if they're not in on it to some capacity, it would definitely make me sit here, or some other GM in the NFL sit here and go, "Man, you know, w- well, why wouldn't they want him?"
And yeah, that'll raise some eyebrows, 100%, I hear that.
You know, I think price tag is gonna play a big factor in Malik Willis, too.
Because, is anyone just gonna throw big money at him right away?
No, it's gonna have to be one of those things where, you know, "Hey, this year we'll give you good money, but we wanna see you have a good year, and that second year will be, you know, a bigger chunk of change."
A, a two-year deal type of situation is what I expect from Malik Willis.
Yeah.
Maybe a three-year deal, something of that nature.
But I don't think anyone's gonna make a long-term commitment.
but yes, I do believe in Ma- Malik Willis, and yeah, I've definitely got my eye on him to Miami right now.
Look at what Sam Darnold got on the open market last year after winning 14 regular season games with the Vikings, 33 and a half million a year.
Right, right.
And it was structured in a way that the Seahawks could cut the cord- Mm-hmm after one year.
And now, if anything, Darnold should be saying, "Hey, John Schneider, F you, pay me."
Yeah, right.
That contract is well below what his value is in relation to what his performance was last year.
But with Willis, it's a tough balance, because if you're not gonna get the long term toward the upper echelon of the market- Yeah north of 40 million a year, and he's not- Right don't you just want a one-year deal?
Yeah, may- maybe, maybe.
Don't you wanna get back to the market?
Don't you wanna create a lever that forces them to pay you after one year?
That's what you would want.
It's a tough balance.
It is, and I don't know if another team would want that, too.
But yeah, you're right, it's a tough balance, too, the one-year thing, but yet maybe a little more security with two years and guaranteed money, and being able to fig- finagle a situation like that.
You know, we'll see where that goes.
But m- there's no doubt with Miami, they are in a rebuild mode.
They're, they're, they're tearing down the team, they're tearing down the infrastructure of what Chris Greer built and what was there with Mike McDaniel and everything there.
And they're Tua, right?
Bradley Chubb is the second highest paid guy on the team.
He's done, out of there.
Minkah Fitzpatrick, we know that, yeah, it's- He doesn't wanna be there.
He doesn't- I'm surprised they didn't trade him before the deadline last year.
Well, right, and it, it doesn't seem like he will be there.
He's at the end part of his career, he's like, "I don't wanna be a part of this."
'Cause like Chris Simms is saying, they're rebuilding, they're tearing the team down.
So, you know, they're, they're obviously looking to re-orchestrate the organization, and then re-orchestrate this roster, and get it to where, you know, John Eric Sullivan and, and Jeff Hafley, you know, like it for what they see a football team to, to look like.
I told Hafley, "If you wanna make the team tougher, go back to your throwback uniforms," and I was half serious- Yeah and half joking- Right when I said it.
We've had Dan Marino say he prefers those, the fans prefer those.
They exude And, and you say this all the time, how you look is how you feel and how you play.
Those old uniforms exuded toughness that the current ones don't.
You wanna make that team tougher, you put them in those old uniforms.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, and, and you know, the biggest thing is I, I, I Like, I am into that, the look of that, and the biggest thing is the, the coach has gotta be tough.
The coach has gotta be tough.
The, that's really what it is.
There was a time, let's I mean, you know, they were still in Miami in the '70s, and they were tough as hell during that time period.
Ran the ball, tough defense, that's what they were, right?
So that's where, again, it's on the coach.
And they had a coach like that in Brian Flores, who was tough as hell, but he was too tough, and he was probably also, you know, in, in, you know, little being tough in the front office and stuff like that as well.
Tough on everyone.
Yeah, exactly, and that's where maybe it wore thin, and they were like, "Okay, we gotta get him out of here," but- So they go the other direction.
This is what dysfunctional teams do, the pendulum goes back and forth.
We got a quarter- we got a coach who's too tough- Yeah and we go all the way to Mike McDaniel- Yeah nice guy to everybody.
Right.
And that doesn't work, we're gonna go back this way.
And they keep going until they maybe modulate to a middle ground, where it's somebody who's got emotional intelligence to relate to the players, communicate with the players, get along with the players, but at the same time, knows how to hold the players accountable- Yeah knows how to create conditions, as Hafley told me, where you'll find out which players are gonna crack in the extremes, whether it's heat, whether it's cold.
Although, I still think there's no way to prepare someone to play in the cold- The- without finding a way to play in the cold.
I, I, I do, I do agree with that.
I know from just being in the cold.
Right.
That, but that's the thing.
You have to be in the cold- You gotta be in the cold to get used to being in the cold.
Exactly.
Right, like, w- like we've talked about before, like the Detroit Lions, they practice inside a lot of days.
They go outside, too, but they live there.
So it's not like it's like, "Oh, gosh, whoa, we're playing in a cold We're a dome team.
Oh, no, we gotta go play in Chicago."
They're like, "Well, we're, we're used to 20 degrees all the time, too."
But yes, I, I would agree with you there.
It's a hard thing to prepare for without having experience playing in those situations.
And then I think on top of that, at some point, you just gotta win one of those games to give your team confidence, right?
I go back to, like, the Buccaneers with Jon Gruden, right?
The year before I got there, they win the Super Bowl.
They're going up to Philly to play the NFC Championship game.
"No team from Florida's ever won a game under 40 degrees in the playoffs, so they're not gonna do it," and blah, blah, blah.
And they win that game, dominate that game, and you don't really hear that anymore, right?
They, they kinda squash that.
And that's what it's gonna take for, for Miami and Jeff Hafley, and I think he could do it.
Hafley's got, you know, that Jersey toughness that I talked to you about.
Well, and I think they do cross paths with the Packers this year.
They do.
They are at Green Bay again this year.
And if I'm Hafley, I want it to be in November or December.
I want to know that this is where we're going.
And that's really, depending upon when they play the Bills, the Patriots, and the Jets, 'cause they're gonna have those road games.
Beyond that, Denver, you never know what it's gonna be in November or December.
Yeah, right.
But Green Bay is the one that stands out as a potential for a great way to show that, that they are tough enough to play in the NFL.
