Dolphins Friday Mailbag: Willis, Hunter, Ewers, and More

Part 1 of the 2026 roster cutdown weekend Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag:

From Divingpelican31:

With Sully being extremely active shuffling the roster, should we expect a few more back of the roster trades in the next few days? If there was to be a more surprising trade sending a starting vet elsewhere, who would you think other teams may target?

Yeah, I absolutely think we could see more trades involving the Dolphins within the next few days and the two positions where I could see Miami move a player are linebacker and running back. At linebacker, I easily could see either Willie Gay Jr. or Tyrel Dodson being moved, and the addition of Jarquez Hunter in the trade for Tutu Atwell could mean a trade involving either Ollie Gordon II or Jaylen Wright.

QUINN EWERS, WATCHING FOR CUTS

From Jon Russell:

Hey Alain, who is going to be QB2 moving forward? Ewers has struggled and Miller’s play suggested he’s a practice squad player at best. Do you think the Fins are OK with Ewers or do you think they’ll be keeping a close eye on the waiver wire or a trade?

Hey Jon, the Dolphins undoubtedly will be keeping tabs on what’s going on at quarterback around the league, but I push back at the notion that finding a new number 2 will be easy. While I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Dolphins add another quarterback, I’d still go ahead and predict it will be Quinn Ewers as the No. 2 QB for the season opener at Las Vegas.

From Colindo Mare:

Who is one free agent or other team’s cut candidate who you think would be a good fit for Dolphins needs, relative to their cap available?

Hey Colindo, forget about cap available, the Dolphins have operated on the cheap all year and I’ve seen absolutely no reason to think they’ll deviate. So the idea that they’ll pick up a big-name free agent who’s not close to the veteran minimum to me is not realistic. Having said that, the kind of player I could see the Dolphins target could be somebody like former New York Giants first-round pick Evan Neal or maybe somebody like former Cowboys second-round edge Sam Williams.

THE TUA TIMELINE, THE TREY MOORE INJURY

From Fins Fan Ryan:

Hey Alain, not fond of living in the past, but hard to ignore the return of Tua to Miami on Friday. As a longtime Dolphins fan I really wanted to see things work out with Tua. Even though deep down I knew his limitations were going to be very difficult to overcome. With that said, 2023 was a hopeful year, although it didn’t end well. When 2024 rolled around optimism was high but then that week 2 abomination against the Bills on TNF was the low point and really the moment I realized it was over for that regime. Tua 3 picks (one a pick 6) and then the concussion. What do you think was the single turning point, game or moment you realized the Tua/McDaniel/Hill/ Greer regime wasn’t going to get to the next level? Thanks for all your “free” content and 2 entertaining podcasts!! Keep up the great work.

Hey Ryan, I don’t know that I can come up with a better “moment” than the one who came up with. I think I called it at the time a huge game because, to me, it was going to be telling as to whether the Dolphins could take a step forward after the promise of 2023 but instead they were humbled — at home. Even if Tua hadn’t sustained a concussion that night, what we saw before his injury was very telling and disheartening at the same time. I had bad vibes in the fact the Dolphins couldn’t beat a really good team in 2023, but it was easy to focus on all the injuries they were dealing with. The 2024 Buffalo game was the breaking point.

From Jayco:

Trey Moore was really coming on and seemingly locked down a job. Ronnie Harrison is also banged up. Does Willie Gay Jr. or Jackson Woodard emerge now?

Hey Jayco, Woodard has been emerging for a bit now and Gay has made his share of plays as usual, though he remains a puzzling player who just doesn’t seem to have the full trust of his coaches. But those two guys have made plays, no question.

From Bob Curvelo:

Hi Alain, great reading as always. With the recent signing and trading for a RB, is this a sign that maybe Wright or Gordon might be on their way off the roster, or do you think it's just depth acquisitions?

Hey Bob, the additions of Coleman Bennett and Jarquez Hunter were done to take a look at new players without having to sacrifice anybody who was going to make the 53 (that includes Tutu Atwell) and there’s also the issue of injuries at running back, with both Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright missing practice Wednesday and almost certain to sit out the preseason finale against Atlanta. Jeff Hafley doesn’t want a big snap count (if any at all) for De’Von Achane, so adding more backs to get through the game made sense. I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of Hunter sticking on the 53, though I just don’t see it for Bennett.

From Mark Lever:

It definitely seems like we’re not gonna win a lot of games this year. Don’t you think they should at least give Malik another weapon at receiver so we can really evaluate him on if we’re gonna get a quarterback or not in the draft next year?

Hey Mark, I’ve discussed this many times on my two podcasts and even wrote about it that I don’t buy that notion because Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley aren’t going to judge Willis by his status but rather by what they see in the way he runs the offense and handles himself. When the Dolphins are ready to compete, then we absolutely need to address the issue of getting more talent at the skill positions.

From Mike Marchese:

Hey Alain, I feel it will take until mid-season before we really see what this team is made of. What say you?

Hey Mike, I’ll see your mid-season and raise latter part of the season. With so many rookies and young players, it absolutely is going to take some time for this team to come together.

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