After only 5 games, and that’s all it is folks, the resounding answer is he’s not the answer. At the moment, he’s more of the problem by far than the answer, but it is only 5 games with a new team, new OC, and a whole lot of receivers he’s basically playing together with in only 5 games, and one of the WR’s he seemed to have a nice chemistry with, WR Caleb Douglas, has been injured for the last 3 games. This past weekend, a bunch of us were at the Bengals game and we did not like what we saw from Malik Willis. In general, he seems to have a very poor sense of field and game awareness. While his escapability is a plus, his awareness seems to be a major negative. For instance, he escapes a sack, rolls to the right (which seems to be the only way he rolls away from pressure is to his right) and avoids a sack (temporarily) and then he can’t find anyone open and he’s way outside of the pocket and just has to throw the ball away and instead takes the sack. This would be fine if Willis was a rookie, but he’s a 4 year veteran and has made 27 starts. He should have had this drilled into his brain by now.
Another play that had me scratching my head was the 39 yard scramble by QB Malik Willis and for some reason, with no defenders in front of him but 2 defenders chasing from the sides, he decided to slide. To me, there’s no justification for that. He’s not a superstar QB on a team that’s headed to the playoffs and one play isn’t worth it. For all we know he might have scored on that play if they couldn’t catch him or bring him down. He could have protected the ball and taken it until they dragged him down. I was watching the Chargers vs Broncos, and believe me, I’m no Justin Herbert fan, but that guy finishes runs and takes contact. Yes, the Chargers are also 0-5 right now, so before you get yer panties in a bunch, I’m aware of that.As far as I’m concerned, this team could lose the next 5 with or without Malik Willis at QB, so play to win and finish the play.
Is there any chance that by the end of the season we think Malik Willis deserves the right to compete for the starting QB job in 2027? Sure, there’s a chance, but is it written in INK that he’s the starter no matter what? HELL to the NO. I don’t know where we’ll be drafting next year, I don’t know if any of the QB’s who will be eligible to drafted in the 2027 will legitimately be worthy of the #1 pick if that’s where we finish. It’s too early to decide anything right now on both counts, the future of Malik Willis and also which, if any college QB’s will deserve to be drafted #1 overall. Right now, Miami U QB Darian Mensah has played the best, and right behind him is Indiana QB Josh Hoover. Of course there is Arch Manning, Julian Sayin, Dante Moore, but Manning hasn’t played great and there’s always the chance he decides to play college ball for another year.
What I’m basically saying is we kind of just have to let things play out. If Malik Willis is still playing like he is now in Week 17, then I don’t care what Sully and Haf used to think about Malik Willis, they can’t put their heads in the sand and mark him down as the starter for next season, they have jobs to play for and keep. This year they get a mulligan, but if they don’t bring in an upgrade at QB over Willis if he has the same kind of season he’s been having, they won’t last here very long. They must, and will be held accountable for what they do in 2027. We’re still 12 games away from the end of the season, lots more to see from our QB and the rest of the team.
Our 2nd RD pick ILB Jacob Rodriguez didn’t have a stellar game this past weekend. He was beat for a TD twice, by both Cincinnati Bengals TE’s, former Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki, and then the other TE Tanner Hudson. Rodriguez has been so good, but Sunday’s game was sobering. Despite the 1 TD victory, None of us at the game felt the Dolphins were really in this game. Joe Burrow had far too much time, a repetitive theme that occurs each week. It appeared that DE Chop Robinson got a big sack but he was called offsides and it was nullified. Bengals RT Amarius Mims is huge, 6’8 350 and he seemed to engulf Chop on most plays, I was watching through binoculars a lot during the game to see the action better. Coming into this game, QB Joe Burrow had 7 TD’s and 3 INT’s. Now he has 11 TD’s and 3 INT’s, we made it easy for him. CB Juju Brents was evaluated for a concussion after a helmet to helmet collision. Both rookie CB Chris Johnson and last year’s 5th RD CB Jason Marshall took over on the outside for Juju Brents.
Hey! Did I mention that our special teams still really suck??? We deferred after winning the kickoff and immediately starts with an 81 yard kickoff return by Bengals KR/PR Dohnte Meyers, all the way to the Dolphins 10 yard line. How about this stat? The Bengals average starting point of al, of their drives was the Miami 49 yardline while the Dolphins average starting point was their own 24. If you want a positive, I’ll give you RB Ollie Gordon. To be fair, I’d wish he would stop celebrating after a 10 yard gain like he just scored the winning TD. In fact, behave like Green Bay Packers HC Vince Lombardi preached, when you score a TD, act like you’ve been there before. RB Barry Sanders always just handed the ball to the referee after scoring a TD, so after a 10 yard gain, just get back in the huddle and get into the endzone before you demonstratively celebrate your success. Just my 2 cents. K Riley Patterson missed an extra point, and this after we had converted a 2 PT conversion on the previous possession. I don’t like our K, P, and I definitely don’t like our ST’s Coach Chris Tabor. He needs to be on thin ice, because we can’t afford to spot teams much better field position and still expect our young squad to win games. ST’s is a young players game, and we have that in spades. Get it done!
Anyway, let me know your thoughts on Malik Willis, what you think we should do at QB next season, who you like at QB in the 2027 NFL Draft, and who you think can replace St’s Coach Chris Tabor
GO DOLPHINS!!!
This season is what it is and already some of you are looking to bench guys. How did so many of you go from this team is not going to be good to we must make changes to win games? This team is building experience every week, they have no prior experience together. Remember the word? 😜
It seems to me that probably half the time, Willis is throwing while on the run. That’s not a slight to our O-Line… he’s just not pulling the trigger on his early reads, if he’s even reading early. He’s had ample time to throw the ball most of the time, with the exception of Awful Austin’s whiffs.
This is a Malik Willis issue in terms of accuracy and reading the field. Generally speaking, one is going to be less accurate while throwing on the run: bad mechanics, horrible planting, throwing off the back foot, etc.
He’s got to settle down some and plant after his drop. Instead, he’s got happy feet and ends up dancing/running around in the pocket… then throws on the run.
No, he’s not 6’5″… he’s 6’1″. Maybe he’s trying to find better passing lanes? I dunno, but he’s got to start planting and delivering more accurate throws, IMO.
As I stated yesterday, I don’t believe all of this is Willis’ fault, but he’s most certainly not guiltless. EVERYBODY needs to up their game, gain chemistry/trust, and play smarter football.
Great time for our BYE week to re-evaluate how we’re executing football fundamentals.
Mike E,
As I stated yesterday (I know you were at the game!), there are a plethora of reasons why our Offense has yet to click… starting with Malik Willis.
I think he still has the opportunity to become everything Sully and Haf imagined, but it’s (THE WHOLE TEAM) a work in progress. Until everybody gets on the same page (they will, eventually), we cannot successfully evaluate at this time. JMO
Watched the highlights, and not that it really matters one way or the other, I think Riley Patterson’s extra-point was altered/deflected by a Bengals defender.
It’ll go down as a missed extra-point, but I’m not sure Patterson straight up missed it.
Almost need to see a different view to be definitive on this one.
I’ve only been able to see 2 games. One, the OL looked like they struggled. In the other, I thought they held up okay. There were issues, but the QB performance wasn’t their fault.
I watch lots of other games since I never get Miami on my channels. I see almost all QBs getting pressured. I’d say there are maybe 2 or 3 teams who’ve looked solid on the OL. I still favor big, strong pocket passers, but you gotta be able to move these days. You don’t need to run, but you need to manage the pocket and avoid pressure.
How many QBs coming out are guys with the physical talent and size to be able to do everything but need polish? We would appear to have time to coach up any QB we draft. There’s no reason to force him to play. Frankly, I wouldn’t be bothered if they took 2 QBs in 2027.
Thanks M – our perception is that he is not seeing the field well at all, and then sometimes even when he sees it, he’s reacting way too slow. Is he too short to see over the line? Possible, we saw Kevin Coleman get separation and by the time he either saw it or or threw it, no way we could know, he threw into coverage too damn late. I’m not sure if this is something he will get better at, I have my doubts, but I’m willing to give him the season to figure it out, or at least most of the season
He’s most certainly not hitting any hot reads or first reads, as Tua used to do. Dunno why that is. It may have something to do with Willis not throwing to a spot. He waits until he can verify a receiver is open.
SO many possibilities as to why it’s not worked out to date. Good time for a BYE week.
Mike E,
Here was my post-game feel on Willis. Questions, not answers. I think these questions need to be addressed, at least internally…
mf13ss
says:
October 11, 2026 at 5:24 pm
Observation: it’s rather obvious at this point in time that Bobby Slowick is NOT coaching Malik Willis to throw it to a spot on the field, ala Tua. Instead, Slowick is rolling with Willis’ style of play: see open receiver, let ‘er rip.
EVERYBODY has noticed that Willis is holding onto the ball far too long… why is that, exactly?
There MUST be a reason as to why Willis’ numbers are awful in the passing game so far this season, and I’m certain it’s correctable. I’m not absolving Willis of any blame, for he’s got a LOT to fix, starting with his footwork. IMO, he’s still a PROJECT… but with MASSIVE upside.
Yes, our BYE week comes at a good time for us to reassess, fix, highlight the highs and lows, and to reinforce football 101 (too many foolish penalties, for one).
It’s WAY too early to shelve Malik Willis. We MUST ascertain IF he’s our QB of the future. The sooner we figure that much out, it will determine whether we should address QB early in the ’27 Draft.
If Willis isn’t our QB of the future, it’s likely going to take the full season to render that decision… due to the contract we $igned him to. Now is not the time to bench him. Now is the time to see if he has what it takes to get out of the hole.
And for whatever it’s worth — in spite of his miserable day today — he brought us back to make it a one score game.
I think you understand that in no way am I saying Willis needs to be benched. I think you give him the season unless he really is just not showing any progress and you want to see how McCord can play, but that should be at least Week 12 or so.
Agreed.
I just asked Kurt Warner if he could do a breakdown on our Offense, as he had last season. Doubt he does it, being we’re not an interesting team this year. We’ll see what happens…
LaFleur designed a very specific offense for Willis. It was a very basic, run heavy, easy RPO game. It fit Willis perfectly. It isn’t necessarily how you win in the NFL now that teams know what Willis can do.
@Novig
No Falcons QB has made it through 10 passes without throwing an INT:
Cooper Rush: INT on 7th pass
Jack Strand: INT on 1st pass
Michael Penix Jr: INT on 3rd pass
Tua Tagovailoa: INT on 3rd pass