The Miami Dolphins officially have a new general manager and head coach for the first time in over a decade. Now, with the new era set to begin, the duo must find a way to improve a position that has plagued the Dolphins since the day the GOAT, Dan Marino, retired.
Sure, Tua Tagovailoa showed flashes, but his day as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback appears to be over, with reports surfacing that the team was ready to move on and find someone else to lead the new era of Miami football.
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According to ESPN’s NFL Insider, Jeremy Fowler, that player could be someone both GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and Miami’s new HC Jeff Hafley are familiar with from their recent years in Green Bay.
A player who just so happens to be a free agent this season.
In a recent ESPN article breaking down some of the offseason’s most probable trades and signings, Fowler suggests that Sullivan and Hafley could bring in a quarterback whom they saw first-hand take over when Jordan Love went down. And to be quite honest, he played some pretty damn good football.
So much so that it won’t be just the Dolphins jockeying for his services. As Fowler writes, if Daniel Jones returns to Indianapolis, there’s a very good chance that Willis could be the top quarterback on the market. (He probably still is even if Jones does hit the open market, but that’s a conversation for another day)
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Another team that league executives believe could be interested in Willis is the Cleveland Browns.
“I just don’t think [the Browns] go into the season with Shedeur [Sanders] as their top option,” an NFC personnel man said. “And getting the right quarterback in the draft isn’t a guarantee based on where they pick.”
Cleveland has two first-round picks, but with Oregon’s Dante Moore returning to school and other key factors, Willis could be their best bet for adding legit competition to a room that has Shedeur Sanders and Dillion Gabriel currently battling for the QB1 spot.
But as Fowler says, Miami will have a better beat on Willis and his potential over any other team.
“No regime will know Willis’ strengths better than Miami, which just hired a brain trust of GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley from Green Bay. The Packers valued Willis’ development and Miami could bear the fruits of that labor.”
I know this is giving some of us older folks a bit of ‘déjà vu’ as it feels eerily similar to the days of Joe Philbin and everyone wanting Matt Flynn, because we were QB-starved and unquestioningly believed things might be different.
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Narrator: They were not.
But Willis has legit tools (I’ll do a breakdown in the coming weeks) and could be the perfect QB to help usher in this new era of Dolphins football, while allowing Sullivan and Hafley to find the future in the 2027 or 2028 draft class.
Last season in Green Bay, Willis completed 85.7 % of his passes for 422 yards and 3 touchdowns in four appearances (1 start). In total, the former third-round pick of the 2022 NFL Draft (86th overall) has started six games, finishing with a 3-3 record.
The cap situation is bleak, and the Dolphins have to find a suitor for Tua. But if Brandon Shore and Sullivan can find a way to make it work, I think Miami fans would be delighted to have a player like Malik Willis behind center.
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Then again, all of this sounds too good to be true.
What are your thoughts on the Miami Dolphins signing free agent quarterback Malik Willis this offseason? Do you think he’d be the perfect fit for this next era of Dolphins football? How do you feel saying goodbye to Tua Tagovailoa after what appeared to be a promising start to the McDaniel era? Are you happy with the head coach/GM duo Miami now has? Let us know in the comments section below!