Is Malik Willis Doomed to Fail in Miami?

Is Malik Willis Doomed to Fail in Miami?

There are almost infinitely many scenarios for the Miami Dolphins heading into the 2026 season. With “Way Too Early” mock drafts being a thing, it is common to see Miami at the top of these posts. The team is not expected to do well. Is quarterback Malik Willis poised to fail, and will the Dolphins move on in next year’s draft? Team, league, and draft history can provide those answers.

In every NFL Draft, there is a team selecting first overall. On occasion, the player selected is not a quarterback, but that is not a common occurrence. Since the year 2000, there have been only 7 first overall picks that were not quarterbacks. And the majority of those draft classes did not include a strong pool of quarterbacks. If a team is picking first, there must be some sort of problem at the helm.

Most recently, we saw Las Vegas trade for Geno Smith just for him to have a bad year. He was surrounded by lackluster talent, and the head coach was fired. 2024’s draft included commentary on the Bears, who had former first-round pick Justin Fields still on the roster. Some people thought they should continue to build around him and move down from pick 1, or opt to select someone other than USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Fields had a 5-8 record with a 16:9 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The first overall pick should have belonged to the Carolina Panthers had they not traded up for Bryce Young the year before.

If a quarterback leads the team to 5 wins in a season, which doesn’t even warrant picking at the top of the draft, how can any team hold onto a quarterback when they pick first overall? It may not be as simple for every team.

The Miami Dolphins are heading into 2026 with no pressure at all. The coach and general manager have secured spots because the roster is so bad on paper. All positives will be magnified, and any errors will be brushed off. The only multi-year free agent signing for Miami was Malik Willis. He is being paid just over $ 22 million per year over the next 3 years.

Willis is getting great money and the keys to a team after just starting 1 game last year. That is some big trust. The question remains – is he doomed to fail? Is there any chance he survives a potentially bottom-of-the-barrel year from the Miami Dolphins? The answer is probably not.

Teams are starting to abandon quarterback development. Willis himself was a victim of that mindset in Tennessee, where he was cast aside after a string of bad starts for a bad team. The league is constantly shifting, and any player can be an afterthought if they play badly enough.

Now, if Justin Fields wasn’t able to keep his job heading into a second contract with the Bears, it may be tough for Malik Willis to do so. I think there is no chance he would be starting for the Miami Dolphins in 2027 if they have pick 1 in that draft. Let’s be honest, the odds of a quarterback playing at a high level if his team is the worst in the league are extremely low. Willis needs to play well if he wants the team to win. The discourse surrounding Miami potentially being a bottom 2 team in 2026 seems overblown, but it is never out of the possibility.

My advice? Don’t read way-too-early mock drafts. There is no real way to predict how any team will play week to week, let alone how the entire league will shake out. Not to mention, projecting an entire draft class before the college football season is truly impossible as well.

Malik Willis clearly has earned trust with former members of the Packers organization who are now employed by the Dolphins. He has real tools that can be molded into a proper starting quarterback. He is not bound to fail, but he must earn the right to lead the Miami Dolphins for years to come.