Dolphins' $67.5 million signing ranked 2nd-best of entire NFL offseason

There was one move the Miami Dolphins had to get right this offseason: quarterback.

ESPN's Seth Walder certainly thinks they did. He ranked their free agent signing as the second-best move of the offseason up to this point and assigned it an 'A' grade.

The move, of course, was signing Malik Willis from the Packers to a three-year, $67.5 million contract.

Willis takes over for Tua Tagovailoa, who the Dolphins cut despite a historic dead money cap hit. 

They've started a new era at the most important position in sports, and they've done it in a way that made as much sense as it could given the circumstance.

"Willis represents exactly what the Dolphins need: quarterbacking upside," Walder writes. "Let's get the negatives out of the way. Miami is betting on a tiny sample -- only three starts as a Packer. Those starts came with an elite offensive designer in Matt LaFleur. Willis didn't even throw that much in those starts, and his first two seasons in Tennessee didn't go well. Despite all that, I find Willis to be an incredibly compelling option. His numbers were outrageous in Green Bay -- an 86.3 QBR, 9.2 yards per dropback and a plus-7% completion percentage over expected, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Those stats would all rank first over the past two seasons among QBR qualifiers if Willis kept up that hot pace in a bigger sample."

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Maybe in a different year, the Dolphins would've looked to draft a quarterback, but that's not really presented as a good choice given the class to pick from.

The reality is the Dolphins got a guy familiar to them thanks to their new leadership's Green Bay ties, and they didn't really overpay.

"At $22.5 million per year, the contract is a bargain considering what Willis could become," Walder writes. "But even more than for most deals, the most important part of this contract is the $45 million that's fully guaranteed at signing. Because if Willis fails, that's how much Miami will have to pay. And if he succeeds, they'll end up needing to sign him to a new contract right away anyway."

The most important part will be how Willis actually plays. But as far as making the move they had to make, the Dolphins did that.

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