The Miami Dolphins will be scrambling to find a quarterback to replace Tua Tagovailoa this offseason. Or will they?
General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan's moves to release Tyreek Hill, among other veterans, signal that the Fins are headed for a soft tank in 2026. Starting Quinn Ewers at QB is an option, but all indications are Miami's new Green Bay-centric regime wants to reunite with the Packers' Malik Willis.
Unfortunately, Willis may have priced himself out of a reunion with Sullivan and new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley. Or so the latest insider information suggests.
Multiple inside sources predict Malik Willis will choose the Cardinals over the Miami Dolphins in free agency
Essentially Sports' Tony Pauline dropped a report from a publication that is organically driving up my typically somewhat in-check adverb usage.
Dolphins nuggets abound in Pauline's piece, but the big takeaway has to do with Willis and where he's liable to end up next. Spoiler alert: It ain't Miami.
"The overwhelming belief from people I’ve spoken with is that Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley favors signing Malik Willis, the former Green Bay Packers backup who is slated for free agency. Yet, many question whether Miami will have enough money to sign Willis in free agency, considering the interest building in the quarterback and the contract he will ultimately sign. People I’ve spoken with believe Willis ends up with the Arizona Cardinals, as they are expected to cut ties with Kyler Murray."
Not that the Dolphins organization is some well-oiled machine in terms of how it's run. Owner Stephen Ross will spare no expense in pursuit of winning, but he also employed a lackluster GM in Chris Grier for far too long.
But my goodness, Miami is an NFL paradise compared to the desert of Arizona. Nobody in their right mind wants to suit up for the Cardinals unless they have prior affiliations with the team, or they just want to play for the biggest paycheck possible.
You might've heard about how the NFLPA team report cards will no longer be a thing. Players give grades on how their franchise runs things. Arizona ranked 32nd out of 32 teams in 2025.
If you have the worst-run organization in the sport, and you're in the NFC West with the likes of the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers, you might be in a terrible spot.
I mentioned about two weeks ago how the Cardinals, like the Dolphins, are attempting to move on from an underwhelming franchise QB in Kyler Murray. That piece also dove into how Malik Willis' ties to Packers coach Matt LaFleur (brother of new Cardinals head coach Mike), plus the superior contract offer Arizona could put on the table, would likely add up to Willis spurning Miami.
If I were Willis, the Dolphins would be a no-brainer choice between those two suitors. There's also the possibility that the New York Jets, armed with five first-round picks in the next two drafts, could outbid both the Cards and Fins for Willis and build a cheap, youth-rich super team around him.
Here are the effective cap space numbers for each of Willis' likeliest three landing spots as of this writing, via OverTheCap.com (NFL rank in parentheses):
- Jets: $63.46 million (5th-most)
- Cardinals: $27.66 million (13th)
- Dolphins: -$4.15 million (22nd)
Yeah. Miami's in the red, and will sink further into the red if Sullivan can't find a Tua trade partner.
Bear in mind, too, that Arizona will free up another $34 million by trading Kyler, whenever that happens. Someone will take him for a Day 3 draft pick, or so it's assumed.
In any event, playing in the AFC East over the NFC West is a far more attractive proposition on paper. Josh Allen's Bills have so much pressure on them to win a Super Bowl that it's suffocating their entire team. Their roster is in serious need of a talent overhaul, too. Meanwhile, the reigning AFC champion Patriots are in for a rude awakening after the easiest schedule known to mankind in 2025.
The Rams and Super Bowl champion Seahawks aren't going anywhere any time soon. Neither are the 49ers if they can just avoid catastrophic injury luck.
Saying all this to say, I'm a little surprised insiders predict Willis is headed to Arizona. Either the Dolphins or Jets are a more attractive destination — and I'd lean Miami all the way due to superior organizational infrastructure and a coach-GM pairing Willis is familiar with that's not an arranged marriage. Unlike the Cardinals' tandem of Mike LaFleur and Monti Ossenfort.