WHAT ARE THE DOLPHINS TO DO?

The Miami Dolphins have a QB conundrum, and depending on what they decide, could determine the fate of the franchise for the next five to ten years. As of today, Tua Tagovailoa is still a Miami Dolphin, but the general opinion is he won’t be with the team much longer because the old regime had moved on from him and the new regime aren’t really saying anything to suggest they want to keep him around. Benching your highly paid starting QB isn’t something you do lightly, but it was time, and that move seemed to signal the end of his playing days for the team.

Hold that thought though, it seems as though they are looking to trade him, and what ever portion of his guaranteed contract. Good luck with that because the only way he is getting moved is if Miami eats a large portion of the money his is owed, the only loser in any trade will be the Dolphins. They could cut him and muddle through the 2026 season with a bargain basement team, but why not keep him as a backup as you generally need three QB’s on the team. Whichever way Jon-Eric Sullivan decides to go it is going to be financially painful, there isn’t a way of sugar coating it.

Enter stage right Malik Willis the Green Bay Packers back-up QB, a player that seems destined to be the next Dolphins signal caller. It sounds great because on the face of it he seems to have all the attributes required to be an elite QB, but let’s pump the brakes and pause for thought.

It wasn’t that long ago he was drafted by the Titans in the 3rd round. In his two-year tenure with the team, he started three games filling in for an injured Ryan Tannehill, and not to put to fine a point on it, it was an unmitigated disaster, after two years he was shipped to the Packers for a seventh rounder and nobody was that surprised.

Fast forward to today, and somehow after starting three games for the cheesehead he is now the hottest QB commodity in the league. Granted he played tantalisingly well in a loss to the Ravens at the end of last season, filled in well the week before and had two good games against the Colts and Titans the year before, but does that make him a $15M+ QB, there are even rumours swirling that he could get $30M which is bonkers.

Looking at his stats, the thing that jumps out is the accuracy, it is generally over 80% which is exceptionally high, but the most he has thrown the ball is 23 times. He has six touchdowns to his name, three interceptions and twenty-five sacks which is pretty high. He has flashed potential, but the thing you have to bear in mind is the league’s defensive co-ordinators don’t have much tape on him, so he is going to be more effective as his nuances aren’t yet known. In a year or two’s time will he be posting the same numbers. Either way he is going to get paid, that is sure, but will the cash strapped Dolphins pull the trigger knowing that next year’s draft is looking deep at QB.

There is an argument that they should stick with Quinn Ewers to see what he is made of, how much better can Willis be compared to Ewers, will he produce a handful more wins at the expense of a high draft pick. It is all about the potential, the only problem is he has only shown slightly more potential than next year’s rookie class but is going to be taking up more cap space than a rookie, it is a big gamble based on three games.

There are other free agent QB’s available, but will any of them be an upgrade, and most would be stop gap players. There is news that Mac Jones could be available for the right price, but has he got what it takes to take a team to the Superbowl, not sure on that one. There is Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota and Tyrod Taylor to name a few, but none of them say yes, lets go and get him, they are all going to fill time which doesn’t appear to be the mantra that Sullivan and Hafley are working on.

At the end of the day it is all about ‘what if’, what if he goes to another team and plays lights out, what if he signs a big contract with the Dolphins and then reverts back to his Tennessee days, gets a few more wins but isn’t the answer, and then the team miss out on the next big QB hope…..what if, what if.