The Buffalo Bills can watch the 2026 quarterback market unfold with comfort in their own room, which is more than can be said for two of their AFC East rivals. Both the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins need new starting quarterbacks for next season, and neither seems to have many promising options at their disposal.
The Dolphins, more specifically, still have some work to do in deciding the exact fate for Tua Tagovailoa, as the team hopes to find a trade partner to avoid $99 million in dead cap money. Still, the Dolphins will need to sign someone, and one likely fit, Green Bay Packers backup Malik Willis, would make plenty of sense. After all, new head coach Jeff Hafley and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan were with Willis in Green Bay the past two seasons.
Willis is one of the most promising young quarterbacks set to hit the free agent market in March, but at his position, that just means he’s going to be much more expensive than he’s proven himself to be worth. And if that turns out to be the case, then Bills Mafia will have a comfortable vantage point to laugh at the Dolphins as they consider yet another franchise-crippling decision.
Bills Mafia can only laugh if Miami Dolphins sign QB Malik Willis for huge projected price
According to Spotrac, Willis’s free agency valuation could see him earn $35.5 million per season on the open market, which would instantly put him among the top-20 highest-paid quarterbacks. Assuming Willis gets a two-year deal like Justin Fields did with New York last year, one year to prove he’s capable, the other to give the team security no matter how it goes, then Willis would be in line for a $71 million contract.
While surely some amount of Dolphins fans were warming up to the idea of potentially bringing Willis in after building some hype in Green Bay over the past two seasons, that $71 million number is enough to scare most of the fanbase away.
Maybe the Dolphins will turn over a new leaf with Sullivan as general manager and avoid throwing money at their problems every offseason. But if Tagovailoa isn't in his plans, someone has to be. And a quarterback like Willis is who they have to consider, if for no other reason than because there are no suitable options for them in the draft, where they pick No. 11 overall. Unless they feel particularly bullish about Alabama's Ty Simpson after dismissing a former Crimson Tide quarterback.
Make no mistake, Willis has shown that he’s grown into a quarterback worthy of having a shot to be a starter in this league. But for him to sign such a huge contract with just three starts in the past three seasons is a disaster waiting to happen for whichever ill-prepared franchise decides to do it.
It’s not that Willis can’t be successful in Miami if they build around him properly. But how are they to build around him properly if the team wraps up so much money in him from the start? The Dolphins aren’t built to be competitive in the AFC East in 2026, let alone the entire conference, so strapping themselves to such a financial burden at the beginning of a new regime seems like the kind of thing they teach prospective NFL front office personnel to avoid entirely in Free Agency 101 class.
Fortunately for Bills fans, short of striking a blindside trade for a true star quarterback, the Dolphins are going to be punching up at Buffalo from the bottom of the AFC East standings in 2026 once again, regardless of how their quarterback situation pans out. And if Miami makes such a boneheaded mistake as signing Willis to a fat contract worth $71 million, they could be punching up at Buffalo in the seasons beyond, too.