In 2025, the Miami Dolphins started Tua Tagovailoa for the first 14 games of the season, and he led the team to a 6-8 record while completing 67.7% of his passes for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Tagovailoa was benched in Week 16, allowing seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers to start the final three games, and the former Texas Longhorn led Miami to a 1-3 record to finish out the year while completing 66.3% of his passes for 622 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Heading into the offseason, the Dolphins are expected to make a permanent change at quarterback and move on from Tagovailoa. While Ewers will still be under contract for 2026, Miami will be looking at other options in free agency and the draft, and ESPN’s Matt Bowen identified the Dolphins and quarterback Malik Willis as the best fit for each other.
“With new leadership in Miami, the club could move on from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa,” Bowen wrote. “New coach Jeff Hafley and new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan know Willis well from their shared time in Green Bay, and Willis could slot in as the new starter under coordinator Bobby Slowik. Let’s envision a scheme built around motion/movement, with play-action elements woven in; that would set up Willis well as a thrower, and the QB run game would generate conflict for opposing defenses. Willis’ development in Green Bay creates upside for the Dolphins.”
Willis, 26, spent his first two seasons in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, where he appeared in 11 games and started three. He led the Titans to a 1-2 record while completing just 53% of his passes for 350 yards and three interceptions without a touchdown.
Right before the 2024 season, Tennessee traded Willis to the Green Bay Packers, and over the last two years, he appeared and started in the same number of games, but improved to a 78.7% completion with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
With Hafley and Sullivan getting to know Willis over the last two years, that connection could help Miami secure the deal, but Willis is expected to make a ton of money this offseason (projections between $20 million and $30 million annually). The Dolphins have to be willing and able to spend that kind of money after taking on the dead cap hit that Tagovailoa’s departure will strap them with.
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This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: NFL free agency: Dolphins identified as best fit for top QB available