Malik of the Hundred Plays
A deep dive into the Malik Willis shallows, Groundhog Day for Lions fans, and the miraculous rebirth of the Browns offensive line.
Eager to write something in-depth and insightful about new Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis, I loaded up film of his third-down passing plays in 2025 and watched them all.
All nine of them.
Yes, Willis dropped back to pass on third down just nine times last year, going 6-of-7 for 105 yards, two touchdowns, one sack and one one-yard scramble. NFL Pro lists a 10th play, a 12-yard run, which Sports Info Solutions classifies (correctly, in my opinion) as a quarterback draw.
Now, 6-of-7 for 105 yards is really good. Willis’ third-down completions in 2025 included sideline deep shots to Romeo Doubs and Bo Melton, as well as a 30-yard scramble-and-throw to Jayden Reed on a deep crosser. I’m reluctant to wax too rhapsodic about these throws, however, because there are only seven of them.
Willis dropped to pass on third down 34 times in 2024, going 19-of-25 for 309 yards, one touchdown, three sacks and six scrambles. The numbers are still good, as is most of the film – even the sacks are coverage sacks where Willis protects the football when getting hit, something he did not do during his Titans cameos – and our total sample size has grown to a more reassuring 43 attempts. It’s still a vanishingly small data set when we start breaking things down to, say, third-and-seven-plus: 18 dropbacks in 2024, two in 2025.
If you want to study Willis in late-and-close situations (fourth quarter/overtime, +-8 points), it won’t take long: 20 dropbacks, 10-of-12 passing for 165 yards, six sacks and two scrambles for seven yards across two seasons. Nearly all of those passing plays came in two games against the Bears, but since the Bears were pretty bad in 2024 and very good in 2025 that more-or-less balances out. Again, there’s some tasty film here, but such small portions.
Focusing on third downs and late/close situations is a fine way to filter out the carefully-scripted stuff a coach like Greg LaFleur can call for his mobile backup on first-and-10 or when beating the crap out of the Titans. It also provides a sense of how a quarterback handles high-leverage situations.
Willis earned A’s on third downs and in late/close situations, but they were more like pop quizzes than midterms. We don’t have a lot to go on for Willis, now a fifth-year pro, unless we go back to the Titans (when he was clearly unready for the NFL) or preseason games (weird).
