Why It's the KC Blueprint That Could Matter Most to the Dolphins

As the Miami Dolphins begin their rebuilding project, we've already heard about the "Green Bay way," Jeff Hafley has spoken about the San Francisco model of having head coach and GM in sync, and they're also the division of powers with Hafley, Jon-Eric Sullivan and Brandon Shore that's straight out of the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions playbook.

So let's add another team from which the Dolphins can take an important lesson: The team that's coming to Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs.

And that lesson may be the best of all.

HOW THE CHIEFS BECAME A DYNASTY

Specifically, what the Dolphins can take from the powerhouse Chiefs is how to handle the quarterback situation, more specifically putting the infrastructure in place with a good option before going all out to take a shot at the tranchise player.

It's how the Chiefs not only ended up with Patrick Mahomes, but put him in a position to succeed from the start.

And it most definitely applies to what the Dolphins are putting together after tearing down their roster this offseason.

The uber-competitive and talented Mahomes is a rare find, and it's entirely possible that he would have been an NFL superstar regardless, but it's also a fact that he came into a great situation.

When he became the full-time starter in Kansas City in 2018, he took over a team coming off five consecutive winning seasons, four of which ended in the playoffs.

It's easy to forget now, but the Chiefs were a pretty moribund franchise for most of the start of the 2000s, but that all changed when Andy Reid arrived in 2013 and Kansas City brought in Alex Smith to take over as its starting quarterback.

And this is where we'll point out that while he was a good NFL quarterback, Smith never was considered an elite quarterback.

The bottom line is he was good enough to help the Chiefs get to the playoffs, just as he had done with the San Francisco 49ers, with both teams eventually deciding they needed a little more from the position to get to the Super Bowl, which San Francisco did with Colin Kaepernick in 2012 and the Chiefs obviously did with Mahomes.

THE WILLIS WATCH

So it could be that the Dolphins don't need for Willis to become a franchise quarterback, but maybe just good enough over the next two years to make the team playoff contenders as the supporting cast improves and develops.

Clearly the best-case scenario has Willis becoming a bona fide franchise quarterback who can lead the offense on a deep playoff run at some point in the not-too-distant future.

We're clearly not there yet, either if Willis or with the supporting cast on either offense or defense, but this probably should have been expected with so many young players surrounded by younger unproven commodities.

The K.C. model would be one reason to push back against the notion that the Dolphins absolutely must draft a quarterback if, as expected, they end up with a very high pick in 2027 because it could be that building the infrastructure should be the first priority, not the quarterback.

For every argument about pointing to Josh Allen, we would point to the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl with a quarterback on his fifth team or the Philadelphia Eagles winning with a QB who has taken his share of criticism.

Let's also remember that a franchise quarterback on his rookie contract is as valuable a commodity as there is in the NFL, so it doesn't make sense to rush getting a QB if the team won't be ready to contend for at least a couple of years because the supporting cast isn't good enough.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but it just might be that the Chiefs model and what they did with Alex Smith and Mahomes is the blueprint the Dolphins should think about following.

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