ESPN·United States·Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 01:53 PM UTC

'No way this guy's a backup': How Malik Willis prepared for his second chance

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Marcel Louis-Jacques

Marcel Louis-JacquesOct 6, 2026, 06:00 AM ET
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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Before Miami Dolphins fans got their first opportunity to see quarterback Malik Willis play inside Hard Rock Stadium, he showed his teammates why he was brought in to begin with.

The Dolphins scheduled a stadium practice to mark the official end of training camp, and the night before, Willis spoke to his offensive teammates -- not because he saw anything that bothered him but to set a tone for the remainder of the summer.

"I just wanted to talk to the offense and just have a man-to-man conversation," Willis said. "We got to understand this is a business and we got to take what we do personally. We got to take pride in it, and we got to do it to the best of our ability, regardless if we're calling plays to beat the defense or not. We're not calling plays to beat the defense. We're calling plays that we want to use throughout the year, and we're trying to get better."

In short, he encouraged his teammates to believe in the process. It's a lesson he has learned himself in his time as a professional.

While most of the Dolphins' offseason involved saving as much money as possible, first-year general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan made exactly one splash in free agency -- Willis, whom he signed to a three-year, $67.5 million contract that made him the only free agent to receive a multiyear deal from the Dolphins this offseason.

Knowing 2026 would be a rebuilding year, the Dolphins identified the player they'd like to build around. Even one of the biggest moves they made in the spring, sending wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a first-round pick, was done with Willis in mind.

"We're in a position with our roster where we need to get younger and cheaper -- and I just thought it was in the best interest of the Miami Dolphins to get two rookie players," Sullivan said after the trade. "If I do my job right ... they'll be on rookie contracts that we can grow with Malik. That's why we got [Willis] on a three-year deal, so we can put guys around him over the course of numerous draft classes. Next year, we'll have a little more flexibility in free agency, as we will in 2028, to grow this thing."

Willis learned from an underwhelming start to his career with the Tennessee Titans, used a fresh start with the Green Bay Packers as an opportunity to fine-tune his game and ultimately showed enough in two seasons to convince Miami to build around him.

For the first time since college, he entered this season as a starting quarterback and is now tasked with balancing his own development with the responsibility of leading the youngest offense in the NFL.

"He's one of the leaders on our team. I mean, he's our quarterback," Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said. "Just imagine yourself in the huddle with three rookie receivers, a rookie tight end and a rookie fullback. And you're starting for the first time, and you got [six rookies] -- he's got a lot on his plate. I think he's handled that really well. Really well. And I don't think that's easy."

The Dolphins aren't expected to win many games this season. Hafley has said repeatedly that success in 2026 will be defined more by players' development than wins and losses.

There are multiple quarterbacks who have been deemed worthy of a high pick in the 2027 draft class, and fans could clamor for one of them if the Dolphins end up atop next year's draft order. But Willis isn't worried about whether his audition with the team lasts longer than one season. He has worked for this opportunity, and he and the Dolphins believe he's ready for it. And for now, they've handed him the keys to their franchise.

"I think when I came into the league, I wasn't prepared, and that's not a knock toward my coaches or myself," Willis said. "That's just what it was coming from the system I came from, and I've had a chance to learn the last four years since I've been in the league.

"I went through four different offenses and seen a bunch of different defenses, and I just think I've grown a lot and I'm grateful for the opportunity once again."

'My first year didn't go great'

The Titans took Willis in the third round (86th overall) in the 2022 NFL draft after he threw for more than 5,000 yards and 47 touchdowns at Liberty.

While he was considered by many draft pundits to be a potential first-round pick, his numbers at Liberty masked a raw quarterback prospect who often got by on his athleticism more so than fundamentals.

"He was very much a compensator," said Sean McEvoy, a private quarterback coach who has trained Willis since he was in high school. "Where his natural athletic ability made up for the things mechanically that weren't as sound as most quarterbacks were at that time."

McEvoy said it's not uncommon for athletic quarterbacks to rely on that athleticism in their developmental years.

But doing so isn't sustainable.

"You're going to hit your ceiling at some point when you play the position that way -- and it's just a matter of when you hit it," McEvoy said. "Some guys hit it as soon as they get to college, and some guys hit it when the pressure's put on them when they become a starter. And then some guys when they get to the league."

Willis made six extended appearances as a rookie in 2022, completing 31 of 61 passes for 276 yards and three interceptions. After the season, he realized he could no longer purely get by on his athletic tools; as he put it to McEvoy, "I got my opportunity and I wasn't good enough."

That offseason, he worked with McEvoy, Jacksonville-based quarterback coach Will Hewlett and arm-care coach Tom Gormely to refine his mechanics.

"My first year didn't go great, so I went to figure out things that might help me," Willis said. "Using my hips and this lower body that I have, this strength that we work for, right, instead of just using all arm all the time -- it's just less consistent and it's more strain on your body, right?

"So it's just working that over the last four years. I think it's been super beneficial. It's helped me become way more accurate and consistent."

Hewlett described their work with Willis as a "controlled, monotonous, repeatable process" that centered around breaking his old movement patterns. They used motion capture and video analysis to break down each rep, focusing on the process instead of immediate results.

Plyometric throwing, Hewlett said, was an "accelerator" for Willis and allowed him to practice his mechanics without worrying about hitting a target.

"It's like you're throwing a little round tennis-ball-sized ball that ... it hits a wall and the only thing you have to go on is 'How did that feel?'" Hewlett said. "It was a process with very continuous feedback with video, like, 'Here's how much further forward your hips got on this, but your rotation was much greater based on your last rep.'"

Willis' offseason work didn't stop the Titans from drafting quarterback Will Levis in the second round in 2023. Willis attempted five passes that season in just three appearances, and Levis finished the season as the team's full-time starter.

Tennessee ultimately traded Willis to the Packers after the season, severing their faith in him after 11 appearances and three starts..

'There's just no way this guy's a backup. There's no way.'

Packers quarterback Jordan Love suffered a sprained MCL in the 2024 season opener, paving the way for Willis' fourth and fifth career starts. In those opportunities, Willis completed a combined 25 of 33 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns with 114 yards and another score on the ground.

When Love returned, Willis ran the Packers' scout-team offense -- and sometimes had to be reigned in by then-Packers defensive coordinator Hafley.

"A lot of times he really couldn't do what he does best," Hafley said. "Because I was sitting there telling him, if we were playing a drop-back guy and he started scrambling, I'd tell him, 'Hey, you got to stay in the pocket, man. Like, stop scrambling. That's not what we're doing today.' And then if we were playing a scrambler, he could kind of play his game and do his thing."

But the experience of mimicking opposing quarterbacks was a perfect application of Willis' refined mechanics.

It also opened him up to new styles of play and perspectives.

"I think it helped a lot," Willis said. "I won't name any names, but we were playing a certain quarterback and [Hafley was] like, 'This quarterback likes to do this or this.' And I'm watching the film and I'm like, OK, he really does like to do this and this and he's successful to a degree obviously, a playoff guy. But I think it's awesome to think through the process of that and understand why they're doing certain things like that and seeing different schemes and how they operate."

By the time Willis returned to Jacksonville during the 2025 offseason, his development was obvious to Hewlett & Co.

In Hewlett's words, he looked like a starter.

"I remember specifically when he came back, I was like, 'This guy is a starter,'" Hewlett said. "It was black and white because we had starters [we worked with], and I'm like, 'You can't tell me that that guy isn't an NFL starter if all these other guys are NFL starters. There's no doubt in my mind.'

"I would leave sessions and be like, 'There's just no way this guy's a backup. There's no way.'"

Willis was electric again in limited action in 2025. He completed nine of 11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown filling in for Love against the Chicago Bears in Week 16. He followed it up with his lone start of the season -- in Week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens -- completing 18 of 21 passes for 288 yards and a touchdown, adding 60 yards and two scores on the ground.

His time with the Packers also allowed him to get to know the men who would bring him to Miami in 2026 -- Hafley and then-Packers assistant GM Sullivan. Willis said Hafley's energy at practice caught his attention, specifically how excited he'd get when one of his players made a play.

Sullivan also made an impression on him because of his attention to detail in their interactions around the building.

"I'd see Sully in the hallway and I always ask like, 'What are you seeing out of my game?'" Willis said. "Because I know they watch all the film in the world and he'll give me details. It's not like, 'Oh, you're doing good. Just keep going.' It'll be like specific details in order to help me get better, and I think that's important.

"You've got to be willing to let somebody help you."

'I've got to keep getting better just like everybody else'

Before his first training camp with the Dolphins this summer, Willis organized a workout for his teammates in Jacksonville. His current teammates in attendance included veteran wideouts Jalen Tolbert and Malik Washington, and tight ends Greg Dulcich and rookie Seydou Traore.

Dulcich said players spent a week in Jacksonville with Willis, who paid for everyone's hotel rooms during their stay. They'd start with on-field work in the morning, weight train in the afternoon and simply hang out when they finished.

"I feel like through OTAs and minicamp and that sort of stuff, we kind of got a good feel for each other and we kind of built a good relationship in the first place," Dulcich said. "And what's really cool about him is he makes it easy, I guess for everyone to gravitate towards him."

Willis was named a captain at the beginning of the season and as the highest-paid player on the team, he bears a responsibility to both lead and produce for the Dolphins.

While he is only 10 starts into his career, he doesn't give himself much grace. When asked after Miami's loss to the Chiefs in Week 3 to grade his performance, he was blunt -- his team lost, so he didn't earn a passing grade.

"I've got to keep getting better just like everybody else on our offense," Willis said. "I hold myself to the same standard I will hold them and I think that's fair, if not more, probably. Sometimes [Hafley] be saying I'm tripping because I'll be a little too hard on myself. But at the same time, if you don't hold yourself to a standard, how will you continue to get better?"

The start to his Dolphins career hasn't matched his success in Green Bay, albeit with a much less accomplished supporting cast.

Through four games, Willis ranks 27th in the league in QBR, 18th in passing yards and 29th in completion percentage. He also owns the 13th-longest average time before pass according to TruMedia, at 2.93 seconds; the league average is 2.86 seconds.

He has also been one of the most hit quarterbacks in the league, having been sacked nine times and hit 33 times.

Dolphins offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said the first month of the season has been a work in progress in finding the balance between allowing Willis to use his creativity and athleticism to keep plays alive and instructing him to get the ball out quickly.

As Miami progresses through what people inside the building have described as a developmental season, Willis is tasked with leading an inexperienced offense while playing well enough to stave off any temptation to by the franchise to draft a quarterback next spring.

The Dolphins' remaining schedule is the ninth hardest in the league, according to ESPN's Football Power Index, and they'll play it without Pro Bowl running back De'Von Achane, who tore an ACL in the Week 3 loss to the Chiefs.

Their focus is on rebuilding a depleted core and giving their 14-man rookie class valuable reps. Ideally, Miami will also figure out how to unlock the version of Willis he displayed in Green Bay.

"There's a freedom that you have to allow them to play with to be able to let the artist show a little bit," Slowik said. "But I do think the trap you can fall into in the NFL is you live in the off-schedule world and when you live in the off-schedule world, the consistency just plummets.

"It's a fine line. The only one who can really walk the line is Malik."

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