Right when Green Bay Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan took the Miami Dolphins' vacant GM job, two things became quite clear. First, Jeff Hafley was the front-runner to be Miami's next head coach, and secondly, Malik Willis was a no-brainer fit to be the next quarterback.
Green Bay tends to be quite insular and close-knit. It's a tiny market. A publicly-owned franchise. Sullivan was brought up to draft, develop, and retain those players on second contracts.
However, the Dolphins don't have the luxury of a strong QB draft to pull from. They are trying to get out from under Tua Tagovailoa's massive contract and move forward at the most important position.
What's really concerning for Miami's new regime is the fact that Willis's ties to the Packers may actually result in him landing elsewhere in free agency.
Miami Dolphins aren't the only team with heavy Packers ties to prized free agent QB Malik Willis
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur just oversaw Malik Willis' development over the last two seasons. Worked intimately with him to bring out the raw potential Willis always had, to the point where he looked like a high-level NFL quarterback.
Matt's brother, Mike, is the new head coach for the Arizona Cardinals. Matt spent one season as the Los Angeles Rams' offensive coordinator under Sean McVay in 2017. Mike did just that for the last three years.
Safe to assume they'll have similar offensive architecture, no? As siblings who once held the same position beneath one of the sport's elite head coaches in McVay?
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently had the following to share about Willis' future on the open market, and why the Cardinals are a fit:
"Two teams I'll be watching to pursue Malik Willis, if they can find someone to take their current quarterbacks, are the Cardinals and Dolphins. The ties are obvious: New Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley got a head start on Willis from Green Bay, and new Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur can get intimate knowledge of Willis' game from LaFleur's brother, Matt."
"The Cardinals and Dolphins are saddled with huge guarantees for Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa, respectively, though. The Browns were my sleeper for Willis, but the hiring of Todd Monken might change that equation. He seems open to working with the quarterbacks on the roster, including Shedeur Sanders."
Yeah, huge caveat there. Obviously, the Dolphins are trying to trade or move off Tua with as much grace as possible. Arizona appears set to do that with Kyler Murray, too.
Tua for Kyler straight-up, who says no!? Just joshing around about that.
For real, though, Hafley is a defensive guy. Sullivan had a hand in Willis coming to Green Bay in the first place as the vice president of player personnel, but he's upstairs in the front office.
Given that the Cardinals won't have a viable QB to draft with the No. 3 overall pick in April's draft, and that they want to end the Kyler Murray era, why wouldn't they pay the toll for Malik Willis?
Another thing: Arizona has far more cap space to work with than Miami. In addition to the $42+ million the Cards have now, a Murray trade would net them an additional $34.7 million, per OverTheCap.com. Meanwhile, the Dolphins are sitting at $16.4 million in the red at this moment.
Last point. Ready? Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort was in the Titans' front office when Willis got drafted by Tennessee back in 2022. There's a familiarity factor there as well; Ossenfort was part of the brain trust that gave Willis his first shot in the NFL as he slid from a projected first-round pick to Round 3.
What Willis' decision might boil down to is this: Would he rather be in an NFC West division against the Rams' McVay/reigning MVP Matthew Stafford tandem, the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks, and the always-frisky-if-injury-accursed 49ers? Or would he rather square off with the likes of New England's Mike Vrabel-Drake Maye coach-QB duo and Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills in the AFC East?
Perhaps Willis chooses neither, heel turns to the Jets ($83.2 million in cap space) for far more money, and they just build a super team around him with some combination of trades and actual selections from their treasure chest of five first-round picks in the next two drafts.
What I'm mainly getting at here is that the Dolphins sure seem like the most logical landing spot for Malik Willis. It may not be as simple as connecting all the dots from Green Bay, though.