{"id":803666,"date":"2026-03-10T03:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803666\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T03:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:58:23","slug":"dolphins-tua-tagovailoa-malik-willis-swap-can-be-inflection-point-for-both-qbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803666\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa-Malik Willis swap can be inflection point for both QBs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dolphins thanked Tua for his service and welcomed Willis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a transformative first day of free agency under a new regime, the Dolphins let it be known that Tua Tagovailoa will be released later this week <\/a>despite an NFL-record $99.2 million dead salary cap charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miami then quickly pivoted to Malik Willis as its new starting quarterback when he agreed to a reported three-year, $67.5 million contract<\/a> that includes $45 million guaranteed\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa wasn\u2019t out of work for long \u2014 or at all? He zeroed in on the Falcons<\/a> as his new home on a one-year contract, according to ESPN, even though he won\u2019t officially hit the free agent market until Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MalikThe Dolphins are signing Malik Willis. Getty Images<\/p>\n

There were two obvious landing spots offering the comfort of familiarity to Willis, who spent the past two seasons as Jordan Love\u2019s backup under head coach Matt LaFleur with the Packers. He could have joined the Cardinals \u2014 coached by Matt\u2019s brother, Mike LaFleur \u2014 or be part of the Green Bay exodus headed to Miami, including general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Dolphins, Willis will have another Kyle Shanahan prot\u00e9g\u00e9 (offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik) calling plays, so the system should be similar to the LaFleurs\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still a gamble by Miami, however, considering that Willis has made just six career starts in four seasons. He fell to the No. 86 pick of a 2022 draft with only one quarterback (Kenny Pickett) in the first two rounds, and then was traded by the Titans after two seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now he is deemed to be worth $22.5 million per year \u2014 the No. 22 biggest average annual value on a quarterback contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty wild, isn\u2019t it?\u201d one NFL offensive assistant said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have taken that risk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MiamiTua Tagovailoa is signing with the Falcons. AP<\/p>\n

But, as one NFL scout pointed out, \u201cthe general manager and head coach have seen him every day for two years,\u201d so the conviction is stronger with them than other teams would have felt. Willis was 30-for-35 passing last season in extensive duty against the Bears and Ravens, plus a brief pinch-hit touchdown pass against the Giants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he fell to pick No. 86, either. It\u2019s where he should\u2019ve been based on college tape,\u201d the scout told The Post. \u201cIf you look at the years past and how he has grown in that offense \u2014 even in his preseason tape \u2014 he\u2019s shown that he is taking strides. Besides the arm talent and ability to escape in the pocket, it\u2019s the ball placement and decision-making he showed this year even in a short amount of time \u2014 two games against two good teams.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But did the Dolphins get better in 2026? Or just reshuffle the deck for the sake of a fresh start?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Has Tank for Tua \u2014 the old saying during the 2019 season \u2014 been replaced by Tank for Arch (Manning) in 2027?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given his age and r\u00e9sum\u00e9, Tagovailoa, 28, is arguably the most desirable quarterback changing teams this offseason. He has a 44-32 career record with 120 touchdown passes compared to 59 interceptions and different single seasons leading the league in completion percentage and passing yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The downside is that Tagovailoa has a long history of concussions and is coming off a season in which he was benched for rookie Quinn Ewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live updates of all the signings, rumors and deals from NFL free agency.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Falcons could have Tagovailoa compete with fellow left-hander Michael Penix Jr. for the starting job. Penix has been a disappointment through two seasons as the former No. 8 overall pick and has a long injury history of knee injuries dating to college.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa threw the most famous pass of his career \u2014 a 2018 national championship-winning walk-off overtime touchdown strike to Alabama teammate DeVonta Smith \u2014 in Atlanta\u2019s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like the Dolphins, the Falcons will take on a big dead-money charge to release a veteran quarterback (Kirk Cousins) on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Dolphins tried and failed to drum up a trade market for Tagovailoa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, Miami will designate the former Pro Bowler as a post-June 1 cut, meaning it can spread the cap charge over two years, with $67.4 million dead money in 2026 and $31.8 million dead money in 2027. He was one year into a four-year, $212.4 million extension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because the Dolphins owe Tagovailoa a $54 million guaranteed salary in 2026, he can sign for the minimum with the Falcons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would take that chance,\u201d the offensive assistant said. \u201cWhat do you have to lose? Maybe you get him at his best \u2014 quick-feeding your weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dolphins thanked Tua for his service and welcomed Willis.\u00a0 In a transformative first day of free agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6,89225,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-803666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116202879849304635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}