Dolphins Motto: March for Arch? Mess Up for Mensah? How About Win With Willis?

The Miami Dolphins have yet to play a regular season game in 2026, and yet there's already a lot of focus on what's going on in college football.

Particularly at the quarterback position.

Particularly when it comes to the top prospects for the 2027 draft and who might look good in a Dolphins uniform.

Surely by now you've seen some of the mottos, like "March for Arch" or "Try Lessah for Mensah."

We've heard similar things before, like "Suck for Luck" and, of course, "Tank for Tua."

But here's a thought: How about letting the 2026 season play out in the event that — brace for it — the Dolphins don't need to go get a franchise quarterback in the 2027 draft because they found it when they signed Malik Willis away from the Green Bay Packers?

Likely? Maybe not.

Impossible? Absolutely not.

We don't need to repeat that Willis is the biggest unknown quantity among all NFL starting quarterbacks this season based on his very obvious physical attributes and his equally obvious lack of sample size, but it bears mentioning he's one of the most unique.

There simply aren't a lot of previous examples upon which to draw to make a confident prediction as to what the Dolphins will be getting from him in 2026.

FEW PRECEDENTS FOR WILLIS

The rundown of the 32 starting quarterbacks around the NFL, the latest to be named being the aforementioned Tua Tagovailoa in Atlanta, reveals that all but four teams have someone who either has never played for another team or is a former first-round pick.

The four exceptions are the Dolphins with Willis, the New York Jets with Geno Smith, the Las Vegas Raiders with Kirk Cousins and the Arizona Cardinals with Jacoby Brissett.

What those four teams have in common is that they have the lowest projection win totals for 2026, with the Cleveland Browns also in that group.

For the record, this is the rundown of the other 28 starting quarterbacks:
Buffalo — Josh Allen, first-round pick, one team
New England — Drake Maye, both
Baltimore — Lamar Jackson, both
Cleveland — Deshaun Watson, first-round pick
Cincinnati — Joe Burrow, both
Pittsburgh — Aaron Rodgers, first-round pick
Houston — C.J. Stroud, both
Indianapolis — Daniel Jones, first-round pick
Jacksonville — Trevor Lawrence, both
Tennessee — Cam Ward, both
Denver — Bo Nix, both
Kansas City — Patrick Mahomes, both
L.A. Chargers — Justin Herbert, both
Dallas — Dak Prescott, one team
Philadelphia — Jalen Hurts, one team
N.Y. Giants — Jaxson Dart, both
Washington — Jaylen Daniels, both
Chicago — Caleb Williams, both
Detroit — Jared Goff, first-round pick
Minnesota — Kyler Murray, first-round pick
Jordan Love — both
Atlanta — Tua Tagovailoa, first-round pick
Carolina — Bryce Young, both
New Orleans — Tyler Shough, one team
Tampa Bay — Baker Mayfield, first-round pick
Seattle — Sam Darnold, first-round pick
L.A. Rams — Matthew Stafford, first-round pick
San Francisco — Brock Purdy, one team

The point there is that if teams can't find a steal in the later rounds, which happens but not frequently, they'll get a former first-round pick making the most of a second shot — or in Sam Darnold's case, third shot.

Willis is on his third team after being a third-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2022 and spending two seasons in Green Bay after being traded for a seventh-round pick.

The reality is there just isn't much, if anything at all, in terms of precedent for a non-first-round pick to find success with a second or third team or beyond after accomplishing little or nothing with his original team.

The one glaring example is Kurt Warner, who was waived by the Packers (of course, between there's always a Green Bay connection) in 1994 and became a star for the St. Louis Rams in 1999 after stints in the Arena Football League and NFL Europe.

Over the past 30 years, the two other examples that could be used are Matt Hasselbeck with Seattle after he started off (where else?) in Green Bay and Matt Schaub, who went to the Pro Bowl twice with Houston after starting off as a backup in Atlanta.

To a lesser extent, maybe we could throw in Jimmy Garoppolo in the mix for his work in San Francisco after he was acquired in a trade with New England.

Based on our research, Willis will become the fourth non-first-round pick among QB drafted over the last 10 years to start on opening day for another team, joining Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew and Nathan Peterman.

The point is, it just doesn't happen very often.

BUT WHY NOT WILLIS?

Yet the Dolphins think they have something with Willis, and it goes beyond what he showed during his limited appearances in Green Bay in 2024 and 2025.

GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley worked with Willis on a daily basis the previous two years and gained an appreciation for the way he goes about his business and his ability to stay even-keeled regardless of circumstances.

The Dolphins have made a two-year commitment to Willis based on the structure of his contract, which guarantees him $45 million through 2027, but it doesn't mean he has to be the starter for those two seasons if he shows he's not up to the task.

Willis certainly did deliver in his three starts for the Packers, but he also wasn't asked to do nearly as much as he'll be asked to do in 2026 with a team not nearly as talented as Green Bay.

Willis' career high for pass attempts in a game is only 21, which came in the December 2025 Saturday night loss against the Baltimore Ravens.

Can he be as effective with a larger volume?

We'll have to let the 2026 season play out to get the answer there, but it could turn out that all this attention being paid to the top college quarterbacks will become unnecessary.

So instead of "March for Arch," maybe the motto for 2026 should be something like "Watch Willis Work."

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