Why It Might Be Time to Wave the Willis Idea Goodbye

Who knows, Malik Willis might still end up joining the Miami Dolphins this offseason, but that idea seems like a lot more of a long shot on this day.

Jon-Eric Sullivan conducted media sessions at the scouting combine in Indianapolis with both a small group of South Florida reporters who traveled to Indianapolis and then, during his GM press conference a short while later, addressed the quarterback position.

Sullivan acknowledged that the Dolphins have discussed the idea of going after Willis as a free agent, which he pointed out was a no-brainer because Willis stands as the most appealing option on the free agent market after his impressive — but very limited — performances for the Green Bay Packers over the past two seasons.

But wanting to sign Willis and actually making it happen are two completely different things, and the Dolphins — as everyone knows or should know by now — have to overcome a nasty cap situation that will keep them from being big spenders in free agency, even if they were inclined to want to.

Every team has to be cap-compliant by the start of the new league year on March 11, and the Dolphins got themselves barely under that limit when they officially released veterans Tyreek Hill, James Daniels and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine last week.

But they still will be operating with very little wiggle room this offseason, and their situation isn’t helped by the fact that their starting quarterback for the past five-plus seasons will carry a big cap number whether or not he remains on the roster.

THE FREE AGENCY ISSUE

This means the Dolphins will have to spend judiciously in free agency, which is what Sullivan watched the Green Bay Packers do during his time with that organization.

And this is where Willis’ price tag might remove the Dolphins from consideration and make irrelevant whatever advantage they might have had because of familiarity, along with the South Florida weather and the lack of state income tax.

Willis’ market value is projected by Spotrac to be at $35.5 million on a two-year contract.

It’s not outrageous for a starting quarterback — even with Willis’ very short resume — but it’s pretty pricey for a franchise with very little cap space that’s already going to be devoting a lot of that cap space to their former starting quarterback.

There were some telling comments from Sullivan that suggested that fans banking on Willis coming in to save the day might want to revise their position.

“It’s no secret we’re in a bit of a strain salary cap-wise,” Sullivan acknowledged during his press conference.

“We’re in a position, without speaking specifically, where we need to get back into a healthy state within our salary cap.

“I think you can always do what you want to do within the salary cap. That means you have to kick things down the road. So, yeah, you look around the league and there are teams that can kick the can down the road everywhere. So can we? Yes. Will we? I’m not here to say that.”

So, yeah, all those predictions of Willis signing with the Dolphins because it seemed like such a logical fit given the Green Bay connections probably need to be revisited.

Willis still may wind up in Miami, but it doesn’t seem nearly as much of a possibility now.