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.
