5 Takeaways From NFL Free Agency Day 1: Malik Willis to Miami; Mike Evans Leaves Tampa

Day 1 of NFL free agency started hot and heavy, with many of the biggest names available coming off the board in the first couple of hours after the noon ET start time.

The Dolphins' plans to cut Tua Tagovailoa started the day, and then they had their new quarterback pretty quickly. A legendary receiver left the Buccaneers, and the two teams in New York made some big strides to establish new identities.

Here are our takeaways:

Henry McKenna: Over the last two years, Willis took a legitimate 28 dropbacks when you cut out the screen passes, quick-game throws and tuck-and-run scrambles. 

Twenty eight. That’s nothing.

So, if there was anyone who was going to invest in him, it was going to be someone with insider knowledge about him. There appeared to be two teams where that applied:

1) The Miami Dolphins. Both of Miami's key hires this offseason came from the Green Bay Packers: head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. When he wasn’t filling in as the starter, Willis was the scout-team QB who faced off against Hafley’s defense almost every day.

2) The Arizona Cardinals. Packers coach Matt LaFleur developed Willis. His brother, Mike LaFleur, is the Cardinals' new head coach. If anyone was going to have a sense of what it was going to be, it’s probably Matt’s brother.

As it turns out, Willis will be a Dolphin.

Malik Willis earned a chance to start after strong showings with the Packers over the past two seasons. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Even after the Dolphins decided to take on $99 million in dead cap in order to cut Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins added Willis for three years, $67.5 million ($45 million guaranteed). At $22.5 million per year, that’s not crazy. Not when the Jets gave $20 million per