Malik Willis Must Prove He’s the Guy for Miami
Today at work, someone asked how I felt about Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis.
My response was: If you had to ask me today, I would say he isn’t the guy, but he hasn’t been bad, and he hasn’t been that good either. I said that these last 14 games will tell if he could be the guy.
Other people have told me Willis has nobody around him, and while that might be true, it doesn’t excuse him on the field. You still have to run the offense and show what you can do, regardless of who you have on the field.
Through 3 games, I see the talent in Willis. He has a good arm and is mobile. However, one issue is that he sometimes holds the ball too long, takes sacks, and doesn’t throw the ball away. On one play against the Las Vegas Raiders, Willis had 6 seconds to throw the ball and still got sacked. Then later in the game, he kept a play alive and ran for a touchdown. I would like to see Willis do that more, especially if he doesn’t have the pass on his 1st or 2nd read. You can’t hold on to the ball in the pocket too long, or you are going to take a hit. Either scramble to keep the play alive or try to get something out of nothing.
The other thing is, when Willis has a chance for a big play on a throw, he must hit it. He had a couple of chances Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs to make a big play downfield and missed the receiver; the play could have gone for a touchdown, and the outcome could have been different. The week before, he hit Ryan Miller for a 77-yard touchdown, but the game was already over.
But when the game is close, those are the throws he has to make. I realize he doesn’t have the best supporting cast, but these are the spots where you must rise and lift your team to show you are the guy.
Right now, Willis isn’t showing that.
Now, Willis, aside from a fumble in the red zone on Sunday, isn’t turning the ball over much, so that’s a good thing, but he must showcase his athletic skills and make plays off script. Frankly, I’m not seeing that consistently. I know it’s there, but he needs to do it more.
3 games is a small sample size, and yes, he has only had 9 starts in his NFL career, but the reality is that Willis has been in the league for 5 years now, and he has to show the signs that he can be the guy. He’s not a rookie, and he is a much better player now than he was as a rookie. He also has a contract, but let’s be honest: it’s a two-year deal, and the Dolphins can easily draft someone high next year to compete with him.
The Dolphins have 14 games left to evaluate Willis, just like everybody else on this roster. With next year’s quarterback class considered deep, there will be more speculation about whether the Dolphins take a quarterback high, especially if Willis doesn’t step up.
The quarterback position has been a revolving door since Dan Marino retired, and Willis is another player trying to prove that he is the guy moving forward. Sully is doing a full rebuild, and he comes from the Green Bay Packers, who have a long history of taking quarterbacks even when they don’t need to; but if Sully can’t find a quarterback, this rebuild will only go so far. The quarterback position is the one you must have, and the rest of the season will tell you whether Willis is the guy.
