Many are super high on him, and it was the expected move with our new hires coming form Green Bay. Not sure if it was a smart move or not but the asking price was expected to be higher- Rappaport quoted $30-35M a few weeks ago and said Miami couldn't afford Willis. The good news, we won the QB sweepstakes during the off-season...and there's no way Tua remains on the roster. Also good news for Ewers since he can develop another season or two. And good news for the team since this is not longer a guaranteed "tank year" if we got the right guy. The bad news, Willis shows promise in limited starts but is largely unproven. I'm guessing we shipped out Minkah to make the math work.
I didn’t think we had a shot at him at all with our cap situation. I haven’t seen him play so I guess it’s time to dig into YouTube and see what’s there. I certainly hope though they aren’t expecting Willis to be THE player to save the offense. Hope they build a complete offense around him and not put all of the pressure on him for instant success.
It would seem they are convinced he is ready to take that next step. Hopefully to above league average starter if not better. Now I expect them to keep Achane and Waddle, wasn't sure about it before. The OL will be the focus in the draft with a lot of free agent and UDFAs manning the defense is my guess.
Time will tell, just saying that they better got that right. Would be a bad look if he fails and not a good start for this regime.
Not a ton of film on him since he's only played in 11 NFL games. But the 30-second highlights: - Good arm talent with accurate throws at all levels. Can throw lasers with velocity, can launch bombs. - A pocket QB that's a true dual threat, good sense of when to take off and has some speed. - Plays fast and decisive, seems to have a really solid feel for the pocket (or lack of one). - He's only 26, so hopefully his best football is ahead of him.
Fair point, I just don’t think he‘ll last long in this league, he’s not much bigger than Tua. Hope he shines!
I dont have high hopes for him but i will be rooting for him. He is as humble as it gets in this league. And he does have athletic gifts that Tua does not. we are not in position to draft a qb.. his salary does guarantee him the starting job, it does not guarantee that he remains the qb.. it doesnt prevent competition from Ewers or other qb we bring in. if its average qb play, well then maybe we have a better draft pool of qb’s in the 2027 offseason.. this draft, after Mendoza, has a steep decline at quarterback. it was a very tough pill to swallow for this front office when they had to come to terms that there was minimal drop off/difference from Ewers and a quarterback that was among the highest paid in the league.
Some details on his contract. $67 million over 3 years $45 million guaranteed $22.5 million signing bonus, $1.25 million salary for year 1 Year 2 that jumps to $23 million So for salary cap hit, his $1.25 million is what’s going to count against the cap. What does concern me though, how much “competition” can you have when Willis is being paid $23 million to come to Miami? There’s no doubt about it. He is going to be the starter. You pay someone that much to ride the bench.
I mean, unless he is legit elite, we will probably be bad enough to pick in the top half or near the top of the draft entirely in what is predicted to be a big QB draft next year. He needs to impress. His salary isn't prohibitive in terms of keeping him beyond this year, but it is also enough that they are showing some faith in him. He won't be benched for a slow start or at the first sign of trouble, they will let him play and show out one way or the other. I don't have a problem with it because it doesn't really keep us from drafting another QB next year if we need to, but it's a decent shot at a good QB in a year that is pretty bleak overall. And probably no staff in the league knows Willis like this one. I'm not a big fan of his, but I am hoping he will be good for us. He's got the raw talent, will see if the coaching in GB gave him the mental aspect needed as well.
I like Willis. Let's Fkin do this. Not a fan of Quinn Ewers at all. I'll take him as a backup, but I think signing Willis means we are still trying to compete. It's a low-risk signing in my opinion, with a very high ceiling. I support this. I really liked what little I saw of Willis last season. Gives us something at the position that we have never had here, and that is first-class athleticism. This is something totally new, and exciting at the same time. Main issue with Willis is going to be his health. If he stays healthy, he'll be a decent quarterback for us. I'm not expecting MVP type numbers from him. I think we are going to be a defensive-minded team with Willis as more of a game manager. He can make most throws, and he can make things happen with his feet. I think this is a great signing and it's certainly going to keep us interested.
He's clearly the starter and the new coaching staff hand-picked him before coming here. That didn't mean everything would align for it to happen, but it was their preferred QB all along. Willis with Achane will be exciting for sure, and defenses are going to have to stay at home or the kid is strolling down the field. This type of QB opens up so much because it's almost like you're accounting for a 12th man (the passer and the runner). I've always loved this type of QB for the excitement and I've always hated them because of the increased injury chances. I'm not sure how I feel with that type of guy being our QB...but I'm super excited for the ride! It makes a ton of sense though because you have a starting QB on day one that your HC likes and respects. Worst case scenario, he's a bridge QB until we draft our guy over the next few seasons. Best case though, he is the guy and we just locked him down for three years on the cheap so we can develop the line and our secondary.
Willis was asked at a Thursday press conference about waiting for another chance in that role and why he thinks he’s better suited for it this time. “I don’t think I put a timeline on it,” Willis said, via Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald. “It happened when I was prepared. I think when I came into the league I wasn’t prepared. That’s not a knock towards my coaches or myself, that’s just what it was coming from the system I came from. I’ve had a chance to learn the last four years since I’ve been in the league — been through four different offenses, seen a bunch of different defenses and think I’ve grown a lot. Grateful for the opportunity once again.” The Dolphins are betting that Willis’s production will translate from a sample size to a full serving well enough to make him the latest quarterback to blossom after making multiple moves around the league.
I know his measurable are similar to Tua, but the way that he is built is vastly different. He does not appear fragile at all to me. He looks bigger on the field too.
We've never had a dual threat at the quarterback position. Never considered Tannehill one. Willis is something different that this franchise has never had. Height wise, yeah he's similar to Tua, but that is where the physical comparison stops. Willis was an athlete before he was ever a quarterback. Tua was a quarterback who simply is not an athlete. The arm strength is different with Willis having a gun on him. Tua is by far the more accurate of the two in in my opinion. I think Tua processes quicker than Willis, but I think Willis takes what the defense gives him whereas Tua went all to Hell whenever his first read wasn't there. There are some things Tua does better than Willis, but it won't be enough to make me miss him being here in the slightest. Very excited about Malik Willis. It's a gutsy signing and it could pay off big time. I don't think this new staff came here with the intentions of tanking away another season just to get a better draft pick. These guys are trying to build a winner right away and I love that. Nobody wants to purposely sit through a losing season. You always try to build a winner. Now if it doesn't work with Willis, he gets hurt, we start losing a ton of games, the yeah...We shift towards the draft, but as of right now, this signing all by itself makes me super excited to see what happens with this team next year. We've seen crazier things happen. Jim Harbaugh went into San Francisco and immediately turned that team into a winner. He did it with a limited cast and he did it with two different quarterbacks in the same season.
I agree he’s different to Tua and doesn’t have his injury history. The contract is fair as well, really hope he shines and finally is the QB we‘ve been looking for since Marino. I’m just skeptical that his style of play is sustainable with his measurables, time will tell.
I watched most of it and I can give a quick recap. Warner said that Willis has made 28 NFL level plays in his career. Although he's completed a lot more passes than that, he said those were more showing off a kid's raw athleticism in school yard football instead of a poised NFL QB. Warner alluded to Willis playing bad early, not being at all ready to start in the NFL. He was put in a bad position and played badly. None of the "28 NFL plays" came from his time in Tennessee. Instead, they focused on his limited playing time in Green Bay over the last two years. Year one, he had some good anticipation throws that required patience in the pocket. A few times, the pocket was holding and he bailed. Kurt identified intermediate passes he should have thrown instead of scrambling, but on those plays the net result was also a first down. Still, he pointed to Willis's tendency to take off prematurely due to expecting a collapse in pressure. There were also a handful of great reads and great throws....some deep, some intermediate to the sideline...that showed he has ample arm talent. Year two, Willis looked much more polished standing in the pocket. He'd go through his progressions reading the safety or the linebacker and made good decisions on whether to throw or take off. Several deep passes on time were seen in his second season in Green Bay and the offense was humming in two of his three starts. Warner said that he was still a little raw but showed strong potential. What he liked most is that the kid has grown every season and didn't often make the same mistake twice. He felt like he has a good command of defenses and he will be a solid NFL QB in the years to come.
