Why This Dolphins Draft Shouldn't Be All About Willis

The Miami Dolphins think (or at least) hope they have found their franchise quarterback with the addition of Malik Willis, and the 2026 season will be as much as anything about evaluating him to see if he indeed can be the answer.

For some folks, that means the biggest priority for the 2026 NFL draft and the rest of the offseason is making sure to provide Willis with enough help to give him a chance to succeed in his first season as the Dolphins starting quarterback.

We have seen in more than one mock draft the Dolphins being projected to take a wide receiver with their top pick at number 11 overall in large part for that very reason.

Others have suggested the Dolphins take an offensive lineman to make sure to provide him with the best protection possible.

That all sounds pretty good, but it's also the wrong approach.

There, we said it.

The 2026 NFL draft should not be all about Malik Willis and helping Malik Willis for the Miami Dolphins. It should be about coming up with foundational pieces to play key roles to help the team return to contender status.

HOW TO EVALUATE WILLIS

We'll start with the notion that the Dolphins won't be able to get a proper evaluation of Willis is the talent around him in sub-par, and we'll immediately call that hogwash.

First off, let's look at the two quarterbacks the Dolphins are trying to beat the AFC East, Josh Allen and Drake Maye and the talent around them during their first season with their team.

Or, we should say, lack of talent.

With Allen in 2018, the Bills' starting wide receivers were Kelvin Benjamin and Zay Jones, the tight end was Charley Clay and the running back was LeSean McCoy toward the end of his career.

Maye's supporting case with the Patriots in 2024 included Kendrick Bourne and then-rookie Kayshon Boutte at wide receiver, Hunter Henry at tight end and Rhamondre Stevenson at running back.

Neither the 2018 Bills nor the 2024 Patriots had what could even be called an average offensive line.

The stat line for both Allen in 2018 and Maye in 2024 was pretty pedestrian, and yet both the Bills and Patriots knew they had found their guy because of the traits and ability they exhibited, not because of production or stats.

The same will apply to Willis in 2026.

New GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley aren't going to be require for Willis to pass for 4,000 yards or have a passer rating of at least 100 to feel confident Willis can be the answer. They'll be judging him on other factors that go beyond production.

And one of those factors is the ability to make plays on his own, to making something out of nothing, if you will.

In today's NFL, that often is the difference between a good quarterback and a very good or elite quarterback.

If we look the previous Dolphins starting quarterback, a theme among his backers after his first two seasons was that he didn't have enough talent around him and they were quick to go back to the line after Tua Tagovailoa's career took off after the arrival of Tyreek Hill.

But what happened when Hill got slowed by injuries in 2024 and then was sidelined for all but four games of 2025?

The argument could be made that the Dolphins this offseason moved on from a quarterback who could produce big numbers with a talented supporting cast but also was only as good as those around him.

The Dolphins want more than that, as they should.

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT WILLIS

The bottom line, as we've written before, is that for six years the Dolphins were all about maximizing Tua's ability and making him that franchise quarterback.

And that came at the cost of the overall health of the team.

It was to maximize Tua's talents that the Dolphins selected Jaylen Waddle sixth overall in 2021 when Penei Sewell, Patrick Surtain II or Micah Parsons clearly would have been better choices.

It largely was to maximize Tua's talents that the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel as head coach in 2022 despite questions about his ability to lead, which unfortunately materialized in a negative manner.

It was to maximize Tua's talents that the Dolphins gave up a lot of draft capital and spent a lot of money to acquire Tyreek Hill and turned themselves into a track team on offense, a decision that greatly reduced their margin for error once the weather got cold and the opponent got better.

The Dolphins can't make the same mistake with Willis.

It can't be all about Willis.

No, the Dolphins shouldn't automatically ignore all wide receivers or offensive linemen at the top of the 2026 draft, but they shouldn't make any picks because it would benefit Willis.

All picks should be made because they will benefit the Dolphins.

If Willis is good enough at quarterback, everything will fall into place regardless.