Ranking the Dolphins' QB Options in the 2026 NFL Draft

Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan made one thing clear (assuming you take him at his word) at the 2026 NFL Combine on Tuesday: The Dolphins will likely draft a quarterback this offseason.

He told that to a select group of South Florida media at the combine before taking the podium for a larger media scrum later in the day.

This isn’t really a surprise since Sullivan alluded to the team picking quarterbacks more consistently during his introductory press conference. Miami has five top-100 picks and eight selections total, so there’s plenty of ammo to select a passer at various points of the draft.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to rank the potential QB options for the Dolphins. We’re grouping them into tiers based on where they’re projected to be drafted. A ranking that fails to consider the potential investment in a player seems like a faulty system.

Also, we’re not including Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. He’s going first overall, and the Las Vegas Raiders won’t be trading that pick. Even if they did, Miami doesn’t seem like the team to make that deal.

Dolphins 2026 NFL Draft QB Rankings

Potential Round 1 Options

1. Ty Simpson, Alabama

We’ll cut straight to the chase. The Dolphins should not select Ty Simpson in the first round of this draft. However, he’s widely regarded as the second-best QB in this class, and we’d agree with that assessment.

Still, there are plenty of holes to poke in Simpson’s game.

In Alabama’s first nine games, Simpson completed 67% of his passes for 2,184 yards, while throwing 20 touchdowns and just one interception. In his final seven games, he completed just 60.4% of his passes for 1,383 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions.

The concerning part is that Simpson’s two worst games in that stretch came in big moments. He was awful in the SEC Championship against Georgia and mustered just 67 passing yards on 12 completions against Indiana in the College Football Playoff.

If Simpson slips to the Dolphins’ pick at 43, then that would make more sense. But we still probably wouldn’t select him there because of his modest size and physical traits.

Potential Middle Round Options

2. Drew Allar, Penn State
3. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Allar and Nussmeier are the quarterbacks most often mocked to the Dolphins in the third round, so we’ll assume that’s where they’ll be taken. Both players are heavily flawed, but we’ll give the slight lean to Allar.

The Penn State product has impressive arm talent, size, and good mobility. His development hasn’t gone well at Penn State, and he’s coming off a season-ending injury, but he has the tools to be a top-15 passer.

Since Miami is expected to be rebuilding this year, it’s an excellent, low-pressure spot for Allar.

Nussmeier is pretty much the exact opposite as a prospect. He’s undersized and lacks the physical tools that most upper-echelon QBs have. However, Nussmeier is a more cerebral passer.

He has experience calling plays at the line, executing protection adjustments against pressure looks, and he actually throws downfield more often than Allar. Nussmeier regressed this past season and also battled an oblique injury. Given his weight (202 at the Senior Bowl), that’s pretty concerning.

Ultimately, there’s a path for both of these players to become solid enough starters.

Potential Day 3 Options

4. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor
5. Taylen Green, Arkansas
6. Cade Klubnik, Clemson
7. Cole Payton, North Dakota State
8. Carson Beck, Miami
9. Luke Altmyer, Illinois
10. Jalon Daniels, Kansas

This group of passers is mostly made up of total dart throws.

Robertson has the overall arm talent and size (6-3, 221 pounds) you want in a franchise passer. He’s capable of hitting tight windows at all levels of the field, and he’s pretty tough in the pocket.

The problem with Robertson is accuracy. He completed just 60 percent of his passes in 2025, and Baylor’s offense hardly asks him to make challenging NFL-style reads.

Green is the most physically gifted quarterback on this list. At 6-6, 229 pounds, the Arkansas product certainly looks the part. He’s also got impeccable arm strength and impressive mobility. Green also worked with new Dolphins’ QB coach Bush Hamdan at Boise State, so he’s got a nice connection to the staff.

The problem is that Green’s tape is a mess. His throwing mechanics are all over the place, leading to many inaccurate, late passes. He’s also developed very little for a player with 53 college appearances.

He’s a total project that Miami would have to rebuild from the ground up.

Klubnik doesn’t have the overwhelming tools that Green does, but he’s performed much better at the college level. The Clemson product has enough arm talent, mobility, and accuracy to compete for a starting job, but his ceiling looks a little bit lower.

Payton is probably the most accurate passer in this group. His tape is filled with good touch passes on downfield concepts and a few impressive intermediate throws into tight windows.

He’s a little overreliant on his legs (he’s a good runner, which is useful), and how he handles pressure will have to get significantly better in the NFL. He wasn’t challenged much at NDSU, and when he was, the results weren’t ideal. Payton’s overall arm talent is also only modest.

Beck and Altmyer largely fall into the same category. Both players have incredibly modest physical tools and project much better as long-term backups than future starters.

Lastly, we’ll hit on Daniels. He has some nice flashes of movement skills and downfield accuracy, but his down-to-down consistency is pretty rough. Daniels is also another undersized passer (6-foot, 220 pounds) who has battled injury issues.

The Kansas product feels more like a potential undrafted free agent than a draft pick at this stage of the process.