What to Make of Malik Willis' Quarterback Tier Ranking

The NFL season is about to begin and the Miami Dolphins are in the midst of a new era. Tua Tagovailoa is out, Malik Willis is in. The Dolphins committed to Willis in the offseason with a three-year deal with a chance to be their starting quarterback, which made him a unique pursuit in free agency.

The big question in Miami is how good Willis can become. On Tuesday, Mike Sando of The Athletic released a story ranking every starting quarterback and placing them into tiers. Normally, if a quarterback were being sought after in free agency the way Willis was, it’d be a logical assumption that quarterback would rank close to the top of the league.

That was not the case for Willis. The article ranked each quarterback into four tiers, with Willis making his appearance in the fourth tier.

Willis in Tier 4

In the article, Sando placed each quarterback in a set of tiers. The fourth tier, where Willis found himself, described a quarterback who fits his description at this point.

A Tier 4 quarterback was defined as someone who is unproven with not a lot of information to rank the player, or someone who is a veteran who would ideally not be a full-time starter.

Some of the other players ranked in this grouping include Geno Smith, Deshaun Watson, Michael Penix Jr. and JJ McCarthy.

For what it’s worth, Willis was ranked the highest of the quarterbacks listed in this tier, and could be viewed as the quarterback with the highest amount of upside.

Willis Behind Tua

One of the biggest points of contention in Sando’s story was the fact that Willis was behind former Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa was ranked tied for 26th with New Orleans’ second-year quarterback Tyler Shough. Both Shough and Tagovailoa were ranked a tier above Willis, which described a quarterback as a solid starter who needed a defense or run game to win.

Willis came in at 29th, mostly due to the lack of information surrounding him and his development.

The high end opinions of Tagovailoa said that they thought he could be solid if unspectacular.

“Solid starter if you know what to do with Tua,” a defensive coach told Sando.

“You gotta make sure the ball’s out of his hands. You gotta make sure when he drops back, if he takes one or a shuffle step out a gun, the ball’s out. And if it’s not, he’s getting hit, ‘cause he can’t run.”

On the other hand, with Willis, there was some hope that he had some upside to moving ahead of the group that he was currently placed in.

“I love Malik Willis,” a current GM said to Sando.

“They are committing to him. I just feel like Year 1 has the potential to be rough just because they are building out the infrastructure around him.”

Another executive noted the ability for Willis to rise if the Dolphins are able to put pieces around him.

“He’s got some energy, some bounce to him as a passer and runner,” an exec said. “Out of this year’s (veteran) QB class, he’s the one guy where you said, ‘OK, if we sign him, we give him a couple years, he could maybe ascend to that 2 level.' ”

 That is the bet the Dolphins were making when they signed Willis in the offseason. They knew that Willis may not be a sure bet at this point and time, but with some development within their system, he could grow into a solid starting quarterback for them.

If he does not, the contract they gave him will still allow them to pursue alternative options in the draft if that is what they deem to be the best course of action.

Filled with Upside

Willis has had a tough road on his way to Miami. He was essentially exiled from Tennessee after two seasons and traded for the equivalent of a ham sandwich to Green Bay.

Shortly after arriving in Green Bay, he was asked to start and play well for a team that had Super Bowl aspirations. Willis’ performance in his first start against the Indianapolis Colts in September of 2024 does not look like much on the surface. He threw for just 122 yards and one touchdown on a day the Packers leaned heavily into the ground game. What he did, however, was win over the locker room with how he was able to pick up the playbook as quickly as he did.

From a skills standpoint, Willis has what a team could hope for at quarterback. He’s as mobile as almost any quarterback in the league. He can extend plays, but also has shown the ability to play within the confines of Matt LaFleur’s offense.

Willis may not have made believers out of those who contributed to Sando’s story, but by this time next year his ranking could change dramatically.

As is almost always the case in the midst of a rebuild, patience is a virtue, and next year's list could tell a very different story.