Who Should I Start? Marcus Mariota or Malik Willis

Tuesday, July 21, 6:13 AM

Over his six career starts, Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis has scored 8.5 fantasy points per game with his legs alone. While that sample size is almost unusably small, it's easy to get excited about what a full season might look like, particularly when considering his draft cost against some of the league's elite mobile quarterbacks. Willis is being drafted as a low-end second quarterback, all but eliminating the risk of banking on an unproven starter in what projects to be one of the league's least exciting offenses. With the Dolphins most dynamic playmaker, De'Von Achane, sharing the backfield with Willis, it could be easier for defenses to keep both players bottled up without a true downfield threat, but Willis faced a similar situation as a rookie in Tennessee, where he was able to top 40 rushing yards in two of his three starts with a receiving room consisting of Robert Woods, Treylon Burks, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. If Willis can continue to make strides in the passing game while leaning on his legs to keep the chains moving, he could provide week-winning upside from the closing rounds of 2026 drafts as RotoBaller's QB21.