Dave Hyde: Dolphins' new regime bets on itself in signing QB Malik Willis

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 9, 2026

Published in Football

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Love it.

Let me expand that thought.

Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it that the Miami Dolphins are releasing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, signing Malik Willis and effectively changed the arc and tone of their franchise over a couple of hours Monday.

That doesn’t mean Willis is the certain answer to this franchise’s eternal search for a quarterback. That’s reflected in the three-year, $67 million price tag — rich for a player with 155 NFL passes but modest by starting-quarterback standards.

What you have to love is this new Dolphins regime backed up their belief in Willis. General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley worked with him daily for the past two years in Green Bay. They saw him at his best and worst, studied up close how he worked, led and took to coaching.

They made the first big bet of their regime on Willis, too. They think he has a chance to be special.

They also didn’t take the easy way out by not betting on Willis and handing the 2026 season last year’s seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers. That would create the Tank-for-Tua sequel of “March for Arch,” as the Dolphins would try to lose enough to draft Texas quarterback Arch Manning next spring.

Tanking is no strategy for success. The Dolphins learned that over the past six years with franchise-bending mistakes highlighted by: a) drafting Tua over Justin Herbert and b) giving Tua a whopping extension, so they’ll now pay him $99 million to go away.

The Dolphins will spend an NFL record of $200 million in dead-cap money to clean up the previous regime’s mess. Education is expensive.

The easy way out would have been to say the toxic mess’s cleanup was enough for one offseason. But they decided to start the re-build by signing Willis. He showed arm strength, mobility, leadership — lots of what you want to see in an NFL quarterback in his cameo with the Packers.

That’s all it was, too. A cameo. Three starts among his 11 games in two seasons. Last season he completed 30 of 35 passes for 455 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

It’s not perfect that he’s played so little. Nor is he the perfect size at 6 feet 1, 220 pounds. Wasn’t that Tua’s size? Willis is more athletic and mobile as a runner. But it’s valid to worry about injury at that size, just like it’s valid to say the Dolphins should have built the foundation more before betting on quarterback.

You just got the wrong guy to back any of that. Look, there aren’t any quarterbacks on the open market where you can definitively say, “That’s a great one.” It doesn’t work that way.

How it works is you take a shot on a quarterback. If it doesn’t hit, you move on to the next one. You really should get the next hope while you’re deciding if the current one is any good. The position is that important. That seems to be the philosophy of Sullivan. We’ll see.

For the past several weeks, Sullivan has been busy cleaning the Dolphins roster of bad contracts. He didn’t get rid of anyone of value toward this new team. For instance, just after Tua was released, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was traded to the New York Jets for a seventh-round pick. That saved $5.8 million on the salary cap (and cost $13 million in dead money).

Willis represents a first move of building, not subtracting. He joins an offense with some pieces. Great running back De’Von Achane. All-Pro center Aaron Brewer. Rising left tackle Patrick Paul. Good receiver Jaylen Waddle.

With a little more work this offseason, the offense should be interesting. That’s how the view shifted Monday.

Out went Tua, as had to happen.

In came Willis, full of hope and inexperience.

You don’t know if this works. What you know is the new Dolphins regime knows Willis. It took a swing on him. It said he could be special. Sullivan and Hafley, you see, bet on themselves as much as they did Willis.

Love it.

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