When the Miami Dolphins decided to ink quarterback Malik Willis to a three-year, $67.5 million contract in free agency, more than a few fans were gobsmacked. The bridge between Willis and the newly minted, Green Bay Packers-trained leadership of Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley was obvious from the start. How the Dolphins would cobble together enough cap space to sign him, however, was the sticky part.
As fate would have it, Sullivan did come to Miami with a machete firmly in hand, intent on slashing away excess cash from the team's books. Casualties included Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb, and Alec Ingold, as well as trade-aways Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jaylen Waddle. The end result was an NFL-record dead money cap hit of $179 million — a figure that makes up nearly 60 percent of the total allotment that teams can use — and the promise of a brighter future once the cap is clean.
This made it all the more jarring when Sullivan found a way to fit in a far-from-cheap commitment to Willis. The issue now becomes: Did Jon-Eric Sullivan make a mistake when he tore the roster down to the studs, but still made a large commitment to Malik Willis, a player whose evaluation will be needlessly complicated by those previous moves?
Malik Willis' performance is going to be difficult to evaluate with the supporting cast the Miami Dolphins have afforded him
It's no secret how light on production the Dolphins' wide receivers are as pros. In fact, the group of 12 has totaled 430 receptions, 5,189 yards (12.1 average), and 24 TDs over their entire careers — 266 games. That's like one Robbie Chosen (5,140 career yards), and he did it in less than half the games (125) with 45 fewer receptions. See what I'm getting at here?
With that kind of supporting cast, the Dolphins are dangerously close to tainting the entire Malik Willis experiment. If Willis goes out there with a group of wideouts that might struggle getting open against a college team, it goes without saying that his performance needs to be weighed accordingly. That is precisely what has hamstrung Miami in evaluating quarterbacks like Chad Henne, Ryan Tannehill, and Tua Tagovailoa at different points of their careers. The Dolphins simply can't afford to make that mistake with Willis.
This entire conundrum is exactly what gave ESPN's Seth Walder pause about declaring the Dolphins' offseason an 'A+.' In still naming them among the top three with an A-, Walder decried the lack of help they brought on board for Willis.
"The group he'll be throwing to is remarkably barren, however," Walder said. "That's because the Dolphins traded Jaylen Waddle and a fourth-round pick to the Broncos for first- and third-round selections. It wasn't a perfect move, because giving Willis a playmaking wide receiver could have been helpful to his development, but the return was too high to pass up."
"With Waddle traded and Tyreek Hill released, the Dolphins now have Malik Washington, free agent signings Jalen Tolbert and Tutu Atwell, and rookies Chris Bell (a third-rounder who would have been off the board far earlier had he not tore his ACL late last season), Caleb Douglas, and Kevin Coleman Jr."
Things will ultimately sort themselves out on the gridiron, though the message from ownership down to the coaching staff needs to be direct and unequivocal. Malik Willis was essentially handed the starting job in 2026 — a promotion he earned by playing incredibly well in a tiny sample size for the Packers. His status as a four-year veteran, however, means that he is not being graded on a curve.
Performing like a franchise quarterback, even if the wins don't come, should cement Willis in place for the future. If he falters, however, the Dolphins need to be aggressive in adding competition. Willis is full of potential, but he's also not a rookie. The time to see if he will sink or swim is in 2026, and 2026 only.
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