Malik Willis saw his first action with the Miami Dolphins in the 20-7 preseason opener loss against the Washington Commanders on Aug. 14 at Northwest Stadium. Willis saw limited action on the field, but it was an impressive showing.
Willis went 4-for-5 on his pass attempts for 43 passing yards against the Commanders. Despite this short appearance in the preseason opener, it was enough for Jonathan Zaslow of “The Dan Le Batard Show” to be excited about the 2026 NFL season with Willis under center.
“I’ll tell you, Malik Willis looked fantastic [against the Commanders],” Zaslow said on the Aug. 17 edition of “The Dan Le Batard Show.” “I don’t think there’s any other way to sum it up. He looked great.
“The best part of that experience, and yes, it’s just preseason, but the best part of that experience watching Malik Willis for that drive out there was every time they snap the football to him, and he’s dropped back to pass, I’m not wondering if my quarterback, if he takes a hit, is he going to be out for the season?”
Willis, who signed with Miami this past offseason, is looking to prove he’s a starting QB in this league, and it appears he’s off to a good start. Last season with the Green Bay Packers, Willis had a passer rating of 145.5 with 422 yards and three touchdowns in four games, per StatMuse.
Dolphins Fans Don’t Have Anxiety Over Watching Malik Willis
Moreover, Zaslow went into further detail about the comfort that Willis brings him when he watches the Dolphins, and about not having to worry again about any hit potentially taking him out of the game.
“I’m not wondering every single snap that my quarterback takes, is he going to get hit?” Zaslow added. “And then is the camera going to pan back to him and he’s on the ground, and he’s not getting up? That’s been the experience for Dolphins fans for the last six years.
“Every time Tua [Tagovailoa] dropped back to pass, oh my God, please don’t get hit. It’s anxiety-inducing every single play. Again, it was one series, but for one series, I was able to experience something that I haven’t experienced in over six years.”
Willis will look to continue this positive momentum into Dolphins’ second preseason game against the New York Giants on Aug. 22 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Jeff Hafley Looks to Build a Culture in Miami
Whether the Dolphins will be a good team remains to be seen, but head coach Jeff Hafley intends to set the standard and build a culture in his first season with the team, in Year 1 of their rebuild.
“The roster’s gonna be this and that, but [with] these guys, we’re gonna be able to teach everything from the ground up,” Hafley said in an Aug. 18 video from SiriusXM NFL Radio. “They’re gonna do everything that we say. Schematically, they’re not gonna have anything else that they really know… Now imagine how hard they’re gonna play. Then continue to build them, how hard they’re gonna be, how much better they’re gonna be at the end of the year going forward. If you build this thing, I just think it’s really rare.
“Might there be some hard times early? Yeah, I think that there will be. I know that there will be. I think we’ve got to celebrate the small victories. We got to watch the development [and] we have to trust our process. We got to stick together. I think we got the right guys to do that. I think those people picking us to win one game, we’ll see if we can change their opinions.”
Dolphins’ Malik Willis Issued Strong Words Before Giants Game