No team in the NFL has a better history of developing backup quarterbacks and getting them ready to become NFL starters than the Green Back Packers.
And we’re not just talking about Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love, the quarterbacks Green Bay moved onto after divorcing two Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks.
There’s Mark Brunnell, Matt Hasselbeck and even Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, who got his NFL start with the Packers.
That could explain why the dots have been connected between the Miami Dolphins and soon-to-be free agent quarterback Malik Willis all offseason.
Nobody in the NFL has had more exposure to the Willis, the Packers’ backup quarterback, than the newly hired Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, who comes from the Packers organization, and Miami’s newly hired head coach Jeff Hafley, the Packers’ former defensive coordinator, whom Willis helped get his unit prepared for opponents each week running the scout team offense.
New Miami Dolphins General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and new Head Coach Jeff Hafley visit reporters in the Media Work Room after a press conference at the Baptist Health Training Complex in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Thursday, January 22, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The two lingering questions surrounding this possible courtship is which teams are competing for Willis’ services — maybe the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers — and how much will the team chosen end up paying this soon-to-be 27-year-old, who has started six career NFL games, and owns a 3-3 record in those starts?
Plenty of factors, which include where quarterbacks land in the annual offseason carousel of quarterbacks, come into play with Willis’ landing spot.
So that’s difficult to predict at this time.
However, the potential contracts Willis might be offered shouldn’t be because there is precedence, which is what agents typically use when making player pitches at the upcoming NFL Combine, which is annually used for selling free agents to teams.
Most NFL insiders have used the last deal a backup quarterback elevated to a starting role got in free agency, which is the troublesome two-year, $40 million deal Justin Fields received from the New York Jets last offseason.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields was reportedly invited to the NFL Pro Bowl Games, but turned down the offer. David Butler II-Imagn Images
But I would argue that projection is irresponsible because Fields, who crashed and burned as a starter last season, had started 44 games for the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers in the four NFL seasons he played before joining the Jets.
Fields, who was guaranteed $30 million from the Jets last offseason, was horrendous as a starter. But he had experience, throwing for 7,780 yards, running for another 2,509 yards and accounted for 64 touchdowns before last season.
By comparison, Willis has thrown for 1,322 yards, run for another 405 and scored 10 touchdowns in the 22 games he has played in the past four years.
That is why it should be a stretch to justify offering Willis a contract that guarantees the former Liberty standout $30 million, like Fields, even if that’s the going rate for backups who might be potential starters in today’s era of bloated contracts, where quarterbacks typically account for 24% of a team’s salary cap according to NFLPA records.
Teddy Bridgewater was the last quarterback in a similar situation, being employed as a possible starter for the Carolina Panthers in 2020 after leaving Minnesota. Bridgewater received a three-year deal worth $63 million, of which $33 million was fully guaranteed.
But just like Fields, who is expected to be released this offseason, he only lasted one season with the team that signed him.
Bridgewater was traded to Denver the very next season after the Panthers acquired Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. The Panthers even paid $7 million of Bridgewater’s salary that season to unload him to Denver for a sixth-round pick.
Fields and Bridgewater aren’t isolated cases.
There’s a long list of backup quarterbacks who cashed in, but failed to deliver from a performance standpoint.
Brock Osweiler landed a four-year, $72 million deal from the Houston Texans in 2016 after making seven starts for the Broncos during a Super Bowl-winning season.
However, the way Osweiler flamed out (72.2 passer rating in 2016) puts that deal, which guaranteed Osweiler $37 million, in the conversation as one of the worst contracts in NFL history. It was so bad the Texans unloaded Osweiler a year later to the Cleveland Browns, sending Cleveland a second-round pick and swapping sixth and seventh round selections.
Osweiler got released in September of 2007 after losing a training camp battle for the Browns’ starting spot, and returned to his life as a backup.
And to think eight games, and a 5-2 record fueled Osweiler’s salary demands.
Kevin Kolb turned seven starts in Philadelphia into a five-year, $64 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals in 2011. He started 14 games the next two seasons, producing a 6-8 record and a 83.6 passer rating before being released, and eventually retiring.
Matt Flynn turned one productive season as a backup in Green Bay into a three-year, $26 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks in 2012. But Flynn immediately lost the starting spot he was supposedly the front-runner for to a rookie quarterback Russell Wilson, who made $10.5 million last season as the New York Giants’ backup quarterback.
Flynn started a total of 10 games — none for Seattle — the next three seasons, which included a return to Green Bay.
More money wasted, which seems to be the trend for backup quarterbacks who cash in on desperate teams seeking quarterback help.
Nick Foles, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl win as a backup, might be the biggest come-up artist of this recent generation of quarterbacks.
Feb 4, 2018; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles (9) throws the ball under pressure by New England Patriots outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy (53) during the third quarter in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images. Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images
In 2019 Foles signed a 4-year, $88 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars that guaranteed him $50.1 million. Foles sustained a shoulder injury in Week 1of that season and subsequently lost the starting role to Gardner Minshew.
That deal followed a two-year, $24.5 million extension with the St. Louis Rams, a one-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs as a backup, and a return to Philadelphia, where he rehabbed his image a second time to lure Jacksonville’s offer.
That Foles deal likely indicates what the salary ceiling for Willis might be. But what does the floor look like?
Jacoby Brissett, the top hustler on the backup quarterback market the past few seasons, has signed a series of deals that paid him $8 million a season.
That’s the high-end rate for a solid, veteran backup quarterback in today’s NFL.
Marcus Mariota has also signed a series of one-year deals worth $8 million a season, and Tyrod Taylor has signed a series of contracts that compensate him between $6 million and $8 million a year.
This all means Willis could be looking at a salary north of $8 million, but south of $15 million next season, with two years of his contract being fully guaranteed.
However, the market is annually driven by demand, and there are few things in sports more in demand than a decent starting quarterback.
We will soon learn exactly how much that’s worth.