11:13pm: Willis will see each his 2026 and 2027 base salaries fully guaranteed, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports. A $2MM roster bonus is due in March 2028. Yr 3 can have a nonguaranteed salary. Still, the Dolphins shall be paying the Tagovailoa dead money and Willis’ fully guaranteed compensation over the subsequent two years.
11:51am: Despite taking over a record-setting dead money sum from the upcoming Tua Tagovailoa release, the Dolphins shall be the team that signs off on Malik Willis‘ second contract.
Willis is reuniting with Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley in Miami, in line with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who reports the edges agreed on a three-year deal value $67.5MM. Willis will receive $45MM guaranteed at signing.
While not a $30MM-per-year contract like recent rumors indicated, Willis will still money in via that nice guarantee number. This figures to supply a minimum of a two-year runway for Willis in Miami, which is able to spread the Tagovailoa dead cap hit through 2027. Still, a $99.2MM dead cap hit over that span and a $20MM-plus QB salary shall be an interesting path to take. A little bit of a smokescreen effort can have taken place on the Dolphins’ part, as Sullivan pointed to the team’s cap situation making it difficult to win the Willis sweepstakes.
By way of AAV, Willis is about to hover in unoccupied territory. This number is available in south of the Baker Mayfield–Sam Darnold tier but well north of backup money. The complete guarantee likely became a powerful sweetener for the Jordan Love backup, who drew interest from a number of teams — the Browns, Cardinals and Steelers amongst them. Presenting a wierd free agency profile with six profession starts, Willis ranked seventh on PFR’s top 50 free agents list. He’ll do a lot better than Justin Fields when it comes to fully guaranteed money; the Jets gave their 2025 starter at $30MM guarantee.
Fields’ $20MM-per-year deal is the one QB contract on this neighborhood, however the Jets are about to terminate that deal. Soon, Willis’ $22.5MM AAV number shall be the one QB pact in between Cam Ward‘s rookie salary ($12.21MM) and Mayfield’s current $33.3MM AAV.
Mike Vrabel deemed Willis unplayable late within the 2022 season, after the third-round rookie looked erratic in his short time on the helm. The Titans drafted Will Levis in 2023 and parked Willis behind he and Ryan Tannehill. A brand new Titans coaching staff signed off on trading the Jon Robinson-era draftee to the Packers for a low-end return in summer 2024. Willis became needed immediately, with Love taking place with an injury in Week 1 of that season.
Matt LaFleur customized the offense to suit Willis’ skillset, and the hassle created a market. Willis ran his start count from three to 6 in Green Bay, putting up eye-popping (and unsustainable) numbers. He compiled a 6:0 TD-INT ratio in Green Bay, having accomplished 70 of 89 attempts at a college-y 12.1 yards per pass. Willis also averaged 6.2 yards per rush (29/261/3). Willis will now work under Bobby Slowik, who will run a LaFleur-type scheme. Each are Kyle Shanahan disciples.
With Willis committing to Miami inside an hour of the legal tampering period’s outset, other QB-needy teams is not going to have to authorize higher-end guarantees — most certainly, a minimum of. But a few of those teams shall be left scrambling, as a number of needs exist on this yr’s market. That helped inflate Willis’ value despite the six profession starts.
The Dolphins gave Tagovailoa six years but erred by giving him a $53.1MM-per-year extension in 2024. The Mike McDaniel passer showed tremendous promise as an accurate thrower, but concussions gave method to inconsistency for the left-hander. Miami benched Tagovailoa late in McDaniel’s tenure and was never seriously linked to retaining him — despite what would have been a easier route contractually — this offseason. Sullivan will take a risk with Willis as a consequence of his limited sample size, but he and Hafley actually have plenty of knowledge on him from the edges’ two-year overlap in Wisconsin.