The Miami Dolphins appear to be moving forward with Malik Willis as their new starting quarterback. The team made that commitment when it signed him to a three-year, $67 million contract with $45 million guaranteed, despite having little available salary cap space this offseason.
However, Miami’s general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley were comfortable making that commitment to Willis since the pair was familiar as they spent the previous two seasons together with the Green Bay Packers.
As a result of signing Willis, second-year quarterback Quinn Ewers will likely return to being the team’s backup despite showing positive signs during his three starts in the 2025 season. However, the second-year quarterback did not receive glowing reviews for his performance during OTAs.
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Disappoints
Miami Herald writer Omar Kelly spoke about the performances of the team’s quarterbacks, and seemed to suggest that Miami’s quarterback room will not feature a competition after seeing Ewers’ performance. Kelly said on the Dolphins in Depth podcast, “I definitely didn’t see anything from Quinn Ewers that makes me think he’s going to challenge him (Malik Willis). It wasn’t the greatest day for Quinn.”
Ewers entered the 2025 season as the team’s third-string quarterback behind Tua Tagovailoa and Zach Wilson. However, despite being drafted in the seventh round as a rookie, former head coach Mike McDaniel opted to go with Ewers as the starter after the team benched Tagovailoa for the final three games of the season.
In those three starts, the Dolphins went 1-2, while Ewers went 50-for-75 with 569 passing yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. While fans may have hoped to see Ewers take a leap in his sophomore season, early reports out of OTAs suggest that has not been the case yet.
Original Plans for Quinn Ewers
Ewers may have been disappointed to see the Miami Dolphins sign Malik Willis, as the plan following the season had been for the seventh-round quarterback to become the team’s starter in 2026, according to former Dolphins tight end Darren Waller. However, those plans quickly changed once Dolphins owner Stephen Ross decided to fire head coach Mike McDaniel.
Regarding how Miami’s outlook might have been different had the Dolphins opted to stick with McDaniel and Ewers, Dolphins on SI’s Zack Duarte wrote:
“If anything, the idea of pivoting from Tagovailoa to Ewers would have represented more of a continuation of Miami’s previous philosophy than a true organizational reset.
It still would have represented another attempt to win primarily through speed and spacing rather than fundamentally reshaping the physical identity and culture of the roster itself. Instead, the Dolphins appear to have concluded the entire foundation of the roster needed to change.”
Regarding how that has changed with Miami’s new regime, Duarte added:
“Under Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan, the focus has shifted toward rebuilding the roster from the ground up with greater emphasis on physicality, toughness, depth and overall culture rather than continuing to rely primarily on offensive firepower to carry the organization.
That philosophical shift also was reflected in Miami’s decision to sign Malik Willis earlier this offseason, a move that effectively reshaped the direction of the quarterback room under the new regime.
Rather than entering 2026 as the clear future starter McDaniel may have once envisioned, Ewers now appears more likely to compete for a backup role behind Willis as the Dolphins continue building a very different version of the roster under Hafley and Sullivan.”
Dolphins Quarterback Called Out for Performance in OTAs: “Wasn’t the Greatest Day”