Breaking Down Some Sullivan Soundbites

New Miami Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan made the media rounds at the NFL owners meetings this week, earning big points along the way for his candor and the way he decisively presented his vision for helping turn the team around.

Sullivan had some very interesting comments during those media sessions that merit some revisiting along with some analysis.

WILLIS AND THE LACK OF OFFENSIVE WEAPONS

One key question around the Dolphins in recent weeks has been the ability to properly evaluate new QB Malik Willis.

In a conversation with ESPN's Kevin Clark, Sullivan said this: "Yeah, I mean, part of it, that's why bringing him on in on a three-year deal was very important to us. It's going to give us the opportunity to put multiple draft classes around him in '27 and '28 make some noise and free agency, but it is what it is. When you walk into a situation where you have 30 unrestricted for 30 plus unrestricted free agents, you know it's we have to there's a lot of roster management, if you will, going on. Malik knew that when he came through the door. We had our own conversations. I'm very comfortable with Malik and his ability to play with what's around him now, after the 11 draft picks, after undrafted free agency and whatever we choose to do in the summer."

The biggest takeaway here is that Sullivan mentioned three years and not two, which is the time commitment based on the contract having $45 million guaranteed over the next two years.

We shouldn't be shocked about Sullivan talking about Willis in long-term language, but it was interesting nonetheless.

And, as we've argued before, while it makes any quarterback's job tougher not to have great talent around him, it doesn't preclude him from being able to show whether he can be the answer for a team's quest for a franchise quarterback.

THE TOP PRIORITIES

In his same conversation with Clark, Sullivan outlined the first things he did upon taking over the position of general manager with the Dolphins.

"Yeah, I think when you come through the door, you've got to look at your veteran players and whose compensation outweighs their production on the field, right?" Sullivan said. "And you've got to get that fixed, or you've got to walk away. And then I think you have to identify your core players who you want to build around. And then, obviously, the quarterback component is the most important. That comes first before the other two. But I would say, in that order, quarterback, core players, and then compensation."

It didn't take Sullivan very long to figure out how he wanted to address the quarterback position, which involved releasing Tua Tagovailoa and signing Willis. In terms of identifying the core players, Sullivan said in another interview with South Florida reporters who traveled to Arizona three "pillars" would be De'Von Achane, Jordyn Brooks and Aaron Brewer.

And on the issue of deciding which player's compensation outweighed his performance, one easily could look at either Minkah Fitzpatrick or Jaylen Waddle after their offseason trades, but we'd be more inclined to look at a previous comment of his where he said the team needed to get younger and cheaper.

Waddle was scheduled to have a modest $11.7 million cap hit in 2026, so his trade to Denver was more about the future than any issue about his compensation outweighing his performance.

THE DULCICH NOD

Props to Sullivan for not taking the easy way out and mentioning several names when he was asked for one player for whom he had high expectations because a lot of team officials will take that escape route.

After a brief moment to think about it, Sullivan told Clark his choice was tight end Greg Dulcich.

"I thought he thought he had a really good back end of the season, and I want to see if he can build on that," Sullivan said. "That's why we brought him back."

Without question, Dulcich showed enough toward the end of last season for anyone to be excited about his possibilities for 2026.

THE ACHANE TRADE CHATTER

Sullivan's comments regarding De'Von Achane generated headlines in South Florida, even if what he told the group of reporters in Arizona probably didn't warrant them.

“My job is always to listen," Sullivan said. "Nobody’s untouchable in this business. I don’t believe in that, because you never know who’s on the other side of the phone, what they’re going to offer, but there’s zero effort on my end to move Achane.

“I’m very excited about him and the future of the Dolphins. He’s a difference-maker for us, and I see him being here and having a lot of success.”

This, to be clear, was not Sullivan saying Achane would be traded. It was confirmation of what we've always maintained: He's not looking to trade Achane and would prefer not to, but he will listen if another team calls and will make the move if the offer is good enough.

This should be standard operating procedure for any good GM, the only exception being if you have a franchise quarterback on your roster.

This isn't to suggest that Achane will be traded because he's more likely to remain on the roster, but Sullivan saying he's made "zero effort" to trade him isn't the same as saying there's zero chance he's getting traded."