How the Final Answer Could Wind Up Being Quinn

The Miami Dolphins' quarterback situation heading into the offseason has a simple solution the way many folks see it, and that's simply to see Malik Willis and reunite him with Green Bay Packers alums Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley.

But is it really that simple?

The problem with Willis, beyond the question of whether he's a legit long-term answer because he just doesn't have a long body of work to evaluate, is that the Dolphins won't have a ton of money to spend in free agency because of their cap situation and Willis likely will have many suitors because of his potential but also importantly because of the lack of ideal quarterback options on the market.

And there just might be more teams looking for quarterbacks this offseason than there are viable options.

As we indicated Monday when evaluating a potential trade market for Tua Tagovailoa, who remains more likely to get released than traded or retained, these are the teams that could or should be QB shopping: Arizona, Cleveland, Atlanta, Minnesota, New York Jets, Pittsburgh, Miami obviously, Indianapolis and Las Vegas if they decided to trade the first overall pick in the 2026 draft instead of taking Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza.

There should be several veterans on the trade market beyond Tua, and that list might wind up including Kyler Murray, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson. The list of free agents is pretty underwhelming and at this point features to include Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, Daniel Jones and Kirk Cousins once he gets released by the Atlanta Falcons.

So for the Dolphins, it's basically trading for a young QB with some warts who might or might not develop like Levis or Richardson or bringing in a declining veteran to serve as a bridge quarterback.

The down side to a trade is having to sacrifice draft capital, not ideal for a team that needs to build up its supply of young players on rookie contracts. The idea of signing a declining veteran is that it accomplishes little in a season where a playoff run seems highly unlikely and doesn't help beyond 2026.

So where does that leave the Dolphins?

EYES ON EWERS

The Dolphins currently have four quarterbacks on their roster with Tagovailoa, Ewers, Zach Wilson and Cam Miller, signed off the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad at the end of the season.

Along with the expectation that Tua will be gone, Wilson is set to become a free agent next month with his two-year contract from 2025 featuring the ever-popular void year. That was done to spread out his cap number over two years, but it does mean that Wilson won't factor in the compensatory pick formula because technically he'll be released by the Dolphins — this is what happened with Cedrick Wilson Jr. two years ago.

And the question that must be asked is whether it just might turn out that the Dolphins bring in an outside quarterback other than Willis and have him compete with Ewers and Miller for the starting job, and maybe this is where Ewers could find himself as the starting quarterback for 2026.

It's a stretch right now to suggest that Ewers is the long-term answer but he showed enough in his three starts to at least merit a look in training camp.

"The fun thing about Quinn when we were with him last year is just how much he was able to grow," new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said last week. "I think everybody just saw that in the last few games he played at the end of the year. He grew every game. You could see him get better and take steps every game. He’s got to continue to do that in the offseason program and I'm excited to get him back. He's fun to work with and see what happens and see where it goes.”

In his analysis of the QB market for the offseason that featured both available players and teams in need, ESPN analyst Ben Solak brought up the idea of Ewers starting for the Dolphins, and there's absolutely some merit there given where the organization stands as the start of a new regime.