{"id":849373,"date":"2026-04-02T14:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849373\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:19:18","slug":"malik-willis-miami-dolphins-linked-to-12-million-san-francisco-49ers-wide-receiver-nfl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849373\/","title":{"rendered":"Malik Willis\u2019 Miami Dolphins linked to $12 million San Francisco 49ers wide receiver | NFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Malik(Image via Getty: Miami Dolphins logo and San Francisco 49ers logo) Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> is no longer with the Miami Dolphins. Neither is head coach Mike McDaniel. The Dolphins now have Jordan Love<\/a>\u2019s backup quarterback, Malik Willis, as their starter. He had a commendable 2025 season: 422 passing yards, three touchdowns, and a 145.5 passer rating in just four games.Willis\u2019 receiving corps will be Malik Washington, Tahj Washington, and Theo Wease Jr. Miami lost receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Bo Nix-led Denver Broncos and released key wideout Tyreek Hill much before the new league year. To address these absences, the team acquired Tutu Atwell from Matthew Stafford-led Los Angeles Rams and Jalen Tolbert from Dak Prescott-led Dallas Cowboys in free agency.Despite these additions, Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton projects San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk for the Dolphins. Moton cites that Aiyuk could take the WR1 spot and notes the WR\u2019s familiarity with offensive coordinator, Bobby Slowik.<\/p>\n

NFL Trade Rumors: Malik Willis\u2019 Dolphins tied to 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk<\/p>\n

Slowik was San Francisco\u2019s passing game specialist and coordinator in 2021 and 2022. These two years saw Aiyuk\u2019s start-of-a-breakout projections: 56 receptions for 826 yards and five touchdowns in 2021, and 78 receptions for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022. 2023 was his breakout season: 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.Moton reports that if anyone can help Niners WR get back on track as one of the league\u2019s ascending receivers, it\u2019s Slowik. Also, the current receiving corps behind Willis: Jalen Tolbert, Tutu Atwell, and Malik Washington, have all not caught 50 passes or surpassed 610 receiving yards in a season.Willis would need a powerful weapon on the gridiron as it\u2019d be his first-time, full-time starter season. He needs help in the passing game, and that\u2019s where Aiyuk, an experienced veteran, comes into play. The 28-year-old WR is in his prime. Moton reports that Miami has 11 draft picks, which gives them the flexibility to take a calculated risk on a wide receiver at his prime.Even Niners team owner and CEO Jed York said, \u201cBA\u2019s a talented guy. He\u2019s a valuable asset that other people would want, and we\u2019re going to make sure that we get value, and we bring talent into our building.\u201d <\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s contract issues with Brandon Aiyuk<\/p>\n

Spotrac projects the Arizona State alum to land a one-year, $12.3M contract, which gives him a $12.3M average annual salary. He signed a four-year, $120M contract with San Francisco in 2024. They voided about $27M in guaranteed money from his 2026 contract after he stopped attending the team\u2019s facility for his 2024 ACL injury rehab.\u201cI\u2019ve been coaching over 20 years, and I\u2019ve never been in a situation where a contract\u2019s been voided,\u201d San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said via ESPN. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely unusual. It takes a lot of things to get a contract voided. I\u2019ve never dealt with that in my career and been in any building that\u2019s had that. It was unusual. But that\u2019s stuff that I can\u2019t get into right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

49ers may trade Dolphins projected wide receiver<\/p>\n

The Niners now have Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Mike Evans and Houston Texans WR Christian Kirk as their powerful weapons in the receivers room for QBs Brock Purdy and Mac Jones. They seem to have moved on\u2026but Moton reports the 49ers will likely trade Aiyuk for a late-round pick before training camp.Though potential trade suitors may have doubts about how the veteran would fit into a new program after a period in which the Niners were unable to connect with him during his recovery. But maybe a new environment would help him communicate better. This is where Miami comes into the picture.Heavy Sports\u2019 Dave Holcomb reports that for Willis\u2019 development-sake, the Dolphins may have to add a veteran wideout with more experience before the regular season. The veteran could be Aiyuk. Would they sign him? Only time will tell\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Image via Getty: Miami Dolphins logo and San Francisco 49ers logo) Tua Tagovailoa is no longer with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,925,5305,7,1724,4097,32,251,6,8228,1161,252,2624,2623,3452,1089],"class_list":{"0":"post-849373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-bo-nix","10":"tag-brandon-aiyuk","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jordan-love","13":"tag-malik-willis","14":"tag-matthew-stafford","15":"tag-miami-dolphins","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-trade-rumors","18":"tag-san-francisco","19":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","20":"tag-sanfrancisco","21":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","22":"tag-tua-tagovailoa","23":"tag-tyreek-hill"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335554759180247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849373","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=849373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}