Malik Willis becomes 24th QB since Marino

As per usghe with the Dolphins fanbase, there is never a 100% approval rating for any move this franchise makes. I know Rock just hates this move, and I bristled at it as well. I’m not going to kill Sully and Haf before they even get started, but let’s all be honest about something here. These 2 guys came here preaching “competition” at every position, including QB. THERE WILL BE NO QB COMPETITION. Malik Willis will be the 24th Miami Dolphins QB since Dan Marino retired back in 1999. Sully and Haf just handed Malik Willis the reins to the team and it won’t matter if Quinn Ewers throws a TD on every pass in practice and Preseason games, Malik Willis is the starting QB . I genuinely have a problem with that. Competition is healthy, and the fact that so many times in our history we provided no competition at the QB position, it’s a reason we failed. With Tua, we took it to the insane extreme of not only not having competition, but handing him a franchise QB contract before he deserved it, we didn’t even let him compete for himself by playing him on his 5th year contract.

Well, now that Malik Willis is the QB, we just signed a couple of weapons for him. WR Tutu Atwell comes over from the Rams and we re-signed one of our TE’s from last season, TE Greg Dulcich. We’ve also re-signed RT Austin Jackson, and apparently, the ugly VOID YEARS of contracts continue. It’s like getting a new credit card to pay off current credit card debt. Fantastic, I wonder if Chris Grier left behind his “Handbook to Create Cap Hell in the NFL”. In just one week so many things happened. Tua signed with Atlanta so now he’s their problem. We signed Malik Willis and now he’s our problem, or hero, we’ll see which one. We re-signed LB Willie Gay, K Riley Patterson, and oddly enough, also signed K Zane Gonzalez. Apparently, K is one place where we truly need competition. We signed a pass rusher OLB Joshua Uche (Ooh-shay) from the Eagles. We re-signed DT Matthew Butler. We signed a three CB’s that puts us at 43 for now, just kidding, I think it’s 13. We’ll be cutting CB’s in groups once training camp starts.

I know it sounds like I’m hating, I’m not, but I just wonder if Ross wanted a new toy at QB and pushed Sully and Haf to bring in Willis. As all of you here know, I wanted to go forward cheaply at QB, draft a QB in this draft and actually have a QB competition, between Ewers and the draftee, and an inexpensive veteran QB. Being cheap at the QB position got blown out of the water and so did the competition as well. Shame. Hopefully Malik is ready to be a starter, but $45M guaranteed for the next 3 years is far from cheap. Take into account that our roster was not going to be chock full of top talent due to the cap issues we face, we’re not exactly sliding Malik Willis into a favorable situation. We probably need 2 OL (Again!) because Grier got us a defective one in James (3 snaps) Daniels and drafted a defective one in Jonah (2 picks) Savaiinaea. We cut Daniels, so the age old question of how many snaps does it take to get rid of your huge free agent acquisition for the O-line is, a one, a two a *crunch*, a three! 3! Malik Willis might be running alright, running for his life if we can’t find 2 competent OG’s and RT Austin Jackson can’t stay healthy.

Sully and Haf just absolutely better be stellar in this upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. We know we need 2 OG’s, we need CB’s, despite the fact that we have an army of them already. We need a safety now that MFFF made his 2nd departure, this time to the rival NY Jets, who BTW gave him a 3 YR/$40M deal. NY showing the Joisey native some love! Chubb signed with the Bills so we most definitely need pass rushers. That’s a lot of needs in one draft, and I don’t expect to adequately address all of them. This cap mess we’re in will linger for a while, so excellent drafting is in order. Sully gives us our best chance in the last 20 some odd years to be successful at drafting now that Chris Grier has left the building. Talk about pressure, we just spent $67M that we don’t have on a QB while still having 2 gaping holes on the O-line. Sully and Haf have their work cut out for them, I hope they’re up to the task!

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41 Responses to Malik Willis becomes 24th QB since Marino

  1. Rockphin's avatar Rockphin says:

    Good article Mike!

    I don’t think I would pout too much over this one.

    11. David Bailey EDGE Texas Tech

    43. Chris Bell WR Louisville

    75. Gennings Dunker OG Iowa

    87. Malik Muhammad CB Texas

    90. Jake Slaughter OC Florida

    115. Bud Clark S TCU

    151. Sam Roush TE Stanford

    154. Michael Taaffe S Texas

    227. Cole Payton QB North Dakota State

    238. George Gumbs Jr.EDGE Florida

  2. Rockphin's avatar Rockphin says:

    Tradey Pants got carried away here!!! But I think I would still take it!

    40. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren S Toledo

    56. Sam Hecht OC Kansas State

    57. Gennings Dunker OG Iowa

    75. Oscar Delp TE Georgia

    87. Drew Shelton OT Penn State

    111. Kage Casey OG Boise State

    129. LT Overton EDGE Alabama

    2027 ATL 2nd

    2027 CHI 2nd

    2027 KC 2nd

    2027 ATL 3rd

    2027 CHI 3rd

    2027 LAC 3rd

    2027 JAX 4th

    2027 LAC 5th

    • Rockphin's avatar Rockphin says:

      The more I look at this the more I like it. LOL

      Still took 7 players at positions of need, but also DOUBLED the draft next year with 6 additional picks in the top 100

  3. The Flying Pig's avatar The Flying Pig says:

    I didn’t see anyone mention the tutu atwell signing

    I think it’s a pretty good signing

    I think our WR room is going to be a little chaotic. Lot of guys trying to prove themselves. Throw him in the mix

  4. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    Thanks MikeE!

    Actually, I think the Austin Jackson resigning was a good move. He was already on the books for 9.5m in 2027 dead cap from void years Grier made.

    JES reduced his cap hit by 9m this year and only increased his 2027 dead cap by about 3m to 12.8m. He did this by getting him to take a 4.5m pay cut then converted another 1.5m into a per game roster bonus where he has to be healthy and available to get that money. The other 3m was pushed to dead cap in 2027.

    IMO, that is nothing close to a Grier deal. He actually saved 4.5m and possibly more if Jackson gets injured and misses some games.

    • Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

      I don’t want to hear VOID years in any further contracts. I hate dead cap money more than anything. Let’s stop the nonsense. Right now we’re grouped with perennial NFL failures Jets, Saints and Browns with most dead cap in ’26. In ’27 we’re still top 10, which is better than #3. I want to be on the other half of that equation by 2028. What’s worse is so much of our dead cap hits are on players that aren’t even on the team.

  5. Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

    Dolphins sign OG Jamaree Salyer formerly of the LA Chargers. He’s had 40 NFL starts

  6. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    I don’t want to hear VOID years in any further contracts.

    ———

    I hear you. I don’t think anyone has bitched more about future dead money than you, Rock and myself.

  7. Rockphin's avatar Rockphin says:

    Nobody like my restocking of 2027’s draft? LOL

  8. Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

    Rock – If our GM doesn’t trade up in this draft I’ll feel like we got 3 extra picks in the 2027 NFL Draft. lol

  9. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    For some reason, I feel a trade down from #11 then trading back up from #43 for one of the RT’s in Blake Miller or Iheanachor.

  10. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    Just to get a rough idea of what it will take to trade up in the range to get RT Miller or Iheanachor.

    I traded down from 11 for 17, 50 and 157 and took Safety Thieneman.

    I then traded 43 and 75 to move up for pick 30 and a 2027 5th and took RT Blake Miller.

    I tried pick 43 and 87 for pick 30 and it was declined.

  11. Rockphin's avatar Rockphin says:

    Did any of you guys post about his already?

    Dolphins added a new OG to the roster to compete with Braeden Daniels, Josh Priebe, and Kion Smith and Jonah Savaiinaea.

    Former Chargers guard Jamaree Salyer. He started 14 games as a rookie and 17 the following year before being relegated to backup.

    MAN those are the ONLY guards we have on the team. I knew we needed to draft some, but man-o-man! We basically don’t have any.

  12. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    Atlanta Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham said definitively Friday that the team is bringing in Tua Tagovailoa to compete with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting quarterback job.

  13. bailbondmike's avatar bailbondmike says:

    We initially just put a tender on Ethan Bonner, but the Dolphins have officially signed him to the roster today.

  14. Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

    BTW – I was listening to Mike Florio on WQAM, he makes a weekly appearance on Friday’s on the Joe Rose Show. They were talking about the Raiders – Ravens trade that was nullified by the ravens after doing a medical exam after the trade happened and finding things they didn’t like with the meniscus that was surgically repaired. Florio mentioned that the Raiders should have insisted that the medicals were done before the trade was consummated, because the Raiders thought the trade was a done deal, and went out and spent money on contracts they probably wouldn’t have if they still had Crosby on the roster with his $35M cap hit.

    What’s even crazier is that Florio was saying there doesn’t even have to be a medical red flag to nullify a trade, there is no such rule, and that any NFL team can nullify a trade as long as it is done before the league year begins. Both teams have to send their trade information and parameters to the league office and they must both be identical. In other words, no team is protected from a team pulling out of a trade before the league year starts (Free Agent negotiation period, this year that was March 3rd-March 10th and in fact, any player or team can back out of a free agent signing too with no ramifications during that time.

    In other words, the Ravens could have just said “Fuck it, we changed our mind, don’t want him”. Florio recommends that the NFL set up a rule that protects teams from getting duped. It’s a strange thing for sure, and it does seem unfair. It’s not a common event, I would guess you would get a bad reputation and no one would get involved with trade talks with a team that does stuff like this more than once, or maybe other teams will already avoid dealing with the Ravens in the future because of how they handled the trade.

    • The Flying Pig's avatar The Flying Pig says:

      There are rules in the CBA about bad faith bargaining

      and pulling out of an agreement after some one relies on it is often considered bad faith bargaining

      but the CBA is not an agreement between teams. If the ravens agreed to terms with, for instance with Hendrickson, then he cancelled other meetings, and then they withdrew an offer that was accepted and relied on by him – it would probably violate the CBA

      but between teams there doesn’t appear to be anything like that

      it would be Simple rule that requires bargaining in good faith so some one just can’t pull out of a deal they made bc they had second thoughts

      I’m not saying I know the ravens did that – but it looks kinda of like they did and the NFL has a vested interest in preventing that IMO

      but I think some people also believe in hands off negotiations and generally buyer beware philosophy

      so I imagine some owners would vote against it

  15. mf13ss's avatar mf13ss says:

    @schadjoe

    After losing Jaelan Phillips, the Miami Dolphins smartly pivoted to add Jalen Tolbert to join Jaylen Waddle, Jaylen Wright and Jalin Conyers.

  16. mf13ss's avatar mf13ss says:

    @DanGrazianoESPN

    Dolphins signing long snapper Tucker Addington, per his agent

    @KRS3Sports

  17. mf13ss's avatar mf13ss says:


    Jordan Schultz

    @Schultz_Report

    Sources: Former #Cowboys WR Jalen Tolbert is signing with the #Dolphins on a 1-year deal. Tolbert is close with Malik Willis, who was his QB at the Senior Bowl when they were entering the league. The versatile WR had over 1,000 receiving yards and 10 TDs with Dallas over four seasons.

  18. Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

    I think I’d rather lead the league in Wins, rather than less cap space, more dead cap money and more variations of Jaylen, Jalen and and Jalin’s on the roster. lol

  19. Mike E.'s avatar Mike E. says:

    Piggy – Yeah, I’m not a lawyer, so you would know a lot better as to what the deal is with the legal ramifications, but it sure seems like the Raiders got the short end of the stick, especially since the Ravens signed Hendrickson simultaneously.

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