Though lacking a sample size of playing time hefty enough to gauge his true market value, Malik Willis entered free agency as the quarterback with the highest ceiling (albeit in a deeper pool of 40-ish men than one can find at last night’s The National concert). With it came one of the highest price tags for the privilege of exploring said unknown.
And while it’s impossible to determine how different his decision making would have been with 20/20 hindsight, it’s almost certain that Willis would have wanted a roster with Jaylen Waddle as opposed to one without him. Waiting out Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers, taking your chances with your former head coach’s brother and the Cardinals, or nestling into a high-potential backup situation (we’ll get to that more in a second) seem preferable to what has become abundantly clear in Miami: This team is eyeing a future that likely exists beyond Willis’s own employment tenure—a plan that pays little respect to Willis’s desire to become an everyday starter in the NFL.
After Miami ditched Waddle, the No. 6 pick in 2021, receiving first-, third- and fourth-round picks in this year’s draft from the Broncos, the Dolphins now almost certainly have the worst offense in the AFC. Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert and Tutu Atwell appear to be the top receiving weapons for a quarterback who exited a Packers team that has spent more draft capital on wide receivers than any other team in the league since 2022 (Miami, not surprisingly, given what is left on the roster, has spent some of the least). The Dolphins’ offensive line, which finished the season 24th in pass block win rate and darn near last in run block win rate, has added only a swing tackle and a guard from the Chargers, a team so starved for offensive line help last year that letting him go would be akin to throwing away your last jar of peanut butter during the zombie apocalypse.
To be clear, this was a move the Dolphins had to make. Attaining a first-round pick, even in the latter stages of a more underwhelming 2026 draft, is going to be more valuable in the long run for table-setting Jeff Hafley’s new culture and fixing what was an incredible talent discrepancy on Miami’s roster beyond a few top-heavy stars. The Dolphins are swallowing historic amounts of dead money and need to build around sustainable contracts. Waddle’s cap hit would have expanded to seven times its ’26 total the following season.
While we initially liked the Willis signing from Miami’s perspective because it absolutely pacifies the fan base while preventing the Dolphins from boxing themselves out of the prized 2027 quarterback draft class, it’s also fair to explore the other side. We dislike the move for Willis and, on a day when his top receiving weapon was dealt, we dislike it even more.
I wonder if Willis will be the latest test case in an ever-shifting decision-making algorithm for veteran quarterbacks. For example, at least for now, we see Jimmy Garoppolo leaning toward yet another season as Matthew Stafford’s backup and the potential for one season of running the most competent offensive scheme in the NFL (either by way of a Stafford injury or retirement) instead of piloting the clearly woebegone Cardinals and being guaranteed to start every game.
Indeed, journeyman quarterbacks who find themselves stringing together experiences in several positive locations (Baker Mayfield going from the Rams to the Buccaneers, or Sam Darnold going from the 49ers to the Vikings to the Seahawks), are outlining a more sustainable path than those who arrive at free agency determined simply to get a starting job.
While Kyler Murray was almost always going to choose Minnesota for the exact same reason, I wonder if Willis would have preferred the Vikings on a similar deal, knowing that his value and overall career prospects could improve if he won the job outright and outclassed J.J. McCarthy throughout camp.
Far be it from us to make a decision about Willis’s money, but the patient path seems to be the most rewarding if the ultimate goal is to play meaningful football. If the ultimate goal is to attain generational wealth first, then the true price appears to be getting pummeled behind a team that is generously set up to win no more than five games in 2026.
The hope is that Miami shared this as part of the plan, especially since Waddle was reportedly being shopped before the trade deadline last year (and, presumably, Willis’s agent would have been knowledgeable of this fact, preparing Willis for the possibility that his first few practices with the Dolphins would be sparse from a talent perspective, at best). Though the truth is often murkier.
The NFL as a population is an ever-alluring combination of blind faith and competitive gusto mixed with the long-term plans of people who have to become immune to the concerns of every individual player on the roster. Willis may still believe that he can win with this Dolphins roster because without that self-confidence, it’s unlikely he would have become a star NFL player in the first place.
But we’re simply here to mention that it doesn’t look good. Not from where we sit more than a month before the draft, with very few appetizing options at wide receiver left in free agency. Not from the vantage point of any sober mind about to drop back and try to find someone—anyone—to throw the ball to.
More NFL from Sports Illustrated
- Jaylen Waddle Trade Grades: Broncos Pay Premium for Star Receiver
- Maxx Crosby Got Brutally Honest About How Ravens Trade Broke Down
- Why Carson Towt, Colts' New Basketball Forward-Turned-Tight End, Can Skip NFL Draft
- We Talk Ourselves Into the Steelers Actually Being Good
- The Special Thing Jaylen Waddle Did Immediately After He’d Been Traded to Broncos
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Malik Willis Could Be Stuck With the Worst Roster in the NFL.
