{"id":353398,"date":"2026-07-27T06:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/353398\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T06:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:54:49","slug":"the-latest-nfl-contract-has-the-miami-dolphins-malik-willis-gamble-looking-better-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/353398\/","title":{"rendered":"The latest NFL contract has the Miami Dolphins&#8217; Malik Willis gamble looking better than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Miami Dolphins\u2019 investment in QB Malik Willis is looking better than ever. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/USATSI_29119365_168410861_lowres-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-1280 size-1280 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  data-hero=\"atoz-hero\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJun 2, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis (2) prepares to throw the ball during mini camp as quarterback Quinn Ewers (14) watches at Baptist Health Training Complex.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIsabella Frias-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t all that long ago that the <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/miami-dolphins-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Dolphins <\/a>and the Arizona Cardinals were reported to be the two leaders in the race to sign QB Malik Willis in free agency. Miami, of course, won that contest and inked the fifth-year quarterback to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/76962\/malik-willis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3-year, $67.5 million<\/a> contract in March.<\/p>\n<p>While the upside and appeal for Willis\u2019 game is obvious, his contract did draw skepticism from plenty of voices. Too much money, too much risk. Not enough proof of concept. But as a former Miami Dolphin once said, \u2018the market is the market\u2019. The latest quarterback adjustment proves it \u2014\u00a0and it comes from that team Miami edged out for Willis: the Arizona Cardinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Miami Dolphins\u2019 Malik WIllis gamble looks better than ever after Arizona folds their cards to Jacoby Brissett<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More about Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett landing a reworked, one-year, $15.5 million guaranteed deal that could be worth up to $21 million with incentives:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a3NUNxeBKD\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/a3NUNxeBKD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/2081461890123694591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arizona\u2019s incumbent quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, saw his contract given a major bump on Sunday. Originally scheduled to make just about $5 million in compensation this season, Brissett\u2019s new base salary is north of $15 million for 2026. Incentives leave the door open for Brissett to earn north of $20 million, too. It\u2019s a hefty price for a 33-year old journeyman quarterback, especially given Arizona\u2019s initial pivot after missing out on Willis.<\/p>\n<p>When Willis committed to Miami, Arizona switched their attention in free agency to Gardner Minshew. He signed for $5.75 million while Brissett was on his cheaper contract. But with this adjustment and a new commitment to Brissett, the Cardinals\u2019 quarterback room is nearly as expensive, if not more, than the cost the Miami Dolphins paid for Malik Willis. But there\u2019s a key difference between the two situations: Miami got upside with their investment. Arizona got floor.<\/p>\n<p>Spending $22.5 million this season on a 27-year old quarterback with the upside of a starter certainly sounds more appealing than paying $21.5 million to $26.75 million to a combination of Brissett and Gardner Minshew. Willis isn\u2019t a sure thing. And his $45 million guaranteed at signing is a heavier cost than Arizona\u2019s room. But the Cardinals can\u2019t claim to have a serious long-term option. The Miami Dolphins might. And that is worth the price of admission \u2014 especially now that we see the cost of the alternative.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/USATSI_28344437-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-768 size-768\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"  style=\"object-position:50% 50%\" \/>\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"query-card__category is-style-eyebrow\">Miami Dolphins News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphins\u2019 investment in QB Malik Willis is looking better than ever. Jun 2, 2026; Miami Gardens,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9126,1250,102342,54599,123,1763,2797,125,124],"class_list":["post-353398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-american-football","tag-dolphins","tag-dolphins-news","tag-malik-willis","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}