There’s nothing like finding a fantasy breakout on the waiver wire, especially when it’s a quarterback with some rushing ability. These are the kinds of players who can swing a matchup singlehandedly due to their combination of floor and ceiling – after a couple of spot starts last season and a Week 1 performance with a new team this year, could Malik Willis emerge as one of them?
Let’s take a look at the fantasy football viability of Willis as a top quarterback streamer in Week 2, for the moment. Can he slot into lineups in a pinch?
Is Malik Willis a Week 2 QB streamer?
Willis was a third-round pick back in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he certainly didn’t pan out during his two years with the Tennessee Titans. Once he made it to the Green Bay Packers as a backup, though, he began to show signs of a quality quarterback. He completed 74.1% of his 54 pass attempts in 2024 with 550 yards and three touchdowns, then completed 85.7% of his 35 attempts for 422 yards and three more scores in 2025. The sample size of passes thrown was obviously minimal, but it’s what Willis did with his legs that really stood out in those seasons. He ran 42 times for 265 yards and three touchdowns in his limited opportunities, averaging over 6.0 yards per carry.
The best game of Willis’ career came in Week 17 last season as he started in place of an injured Jordan Love. He went 18-for-21 with 288 passing yards and one touchdown, picking up another 60 yards and two scores on the ground. That added up to 31.5 fantasy points, displaying a monster ceiling on the virtual gridiron. Hopes that he’d emerge as a candidate for a starting job were then answered this offseason when he signed a three-year, $67.5 million deal with the Miami Dolphins to step in as the top talent under center.
The result in Week 1 with his new team wasn’t the greatest, but it was far from a bad day in terms of fantasy output. Willis scored 16.7 fantasy points behind a 15-for-27 passing line with 220 yards and one interception, though he rushed for 39 yards and one touchdown on his six attempts. Was it a high-end day at the office against a Las Vegas Raiders defense that projects as a perfectly average unit at best this year? Not exactly, but the case for the quarterback in fantasy was largely proven.
We know the Dolphins aren’t going to be a very good team this year after entering a rebuild. They traded away former Pro Bowl wideout Jaylen Waddle and cut Tyreek Hill this offseason to get out from his hefty contract. After taking a couple of receivers in the draft, Miami’s group of weapons is still devoid of proven talent beyond halfback De’Von Achane. The pass-catching room consists of rookies Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, plus Malik Washington and Greg Dulcich. High-end production from this unit feels unlikely, which should leave Willis’ passing upside capped moving forward unless one of those names emerges as a legitimate standout.
For what it’s worth, Douglas did look quite good in Week 1 with five catches for 94 yards. The former Texas Tech Red Raider is the leader in the clubhouse to serve as the top receiving option, though there’s upside for Bell, who showed flashes of high-end production at Louisville before an injury ended his final collegiate season prematurely.
Still, the argument for Willis in fantasy was never really centered around the passing output. Instead, his legs are what truly matter – they allow him to pick up points on the ground that raise his weekly floor significantly. In his Dolphins debut, 9.9 of his 16.7 fantasy points came via rushing production; had he evaded even one or two of the five sacks he took, that could’ve been even higher. With an ability to roll out of the pocket to scramble or make an impact when designed runs are called for him, there’s a case for Willis to settle in as a solid fantasy streamer with upside this year in spite of his unproven weapons.
Might he be worth streaming in Week 2? Well, this may not be the week for him to be in your lineups. Miami is on the road to take on the San Francisco 49ers, whose defense just largely shut down the Los Angeles Rams last Thursday in Australia. Now, there may be some schedule adjustment as the Niners spent a week in a far different time zone prior to that game. However, there’s no denying that even a sluggish performance from the home team could prove incredibly problematic for the Dolphins.
In a tough assignment, it’s probably best to leave Willis on the bench or on waivers this week. His legs give him a pretty steady floor, but even running the ball may prove difficult against the 49ers, who ranked 11th against the run last season and have pass rushers who can give this offensive line fits.
