Miami Dolphins Need a Veteran Quarterback

Miami Dolphins Need a Veteran Quarterback 

It’s pretty clear through the first two preseason games that the Miami Dolphins are in desperate need of a veteran quarterback.

We all know the Dolphins have zero expectations this season and are in a complete rebuild. Most observers project the Dolphins to be the worst team in the NFL largely as a result of having the largest dead cap hit ($175 million) in a single season in NFL history.

While you can lose games in the NFL as a rebuilding team, you need to at least be competent and competitive. What the Dolphins have shown in all of their offensive drives without Malik Willis — who played one drive that resulted in a touchdown against the Washington Commanders — is that they’re as incompetent as they possibly can be.

The Dolphins didn’t score on a single offensive possession in their 10 drives without Willis against the Commanders, and they scored a mere field goal in their nine offensive possessions in their 26-3 loss to the New York Giants.

If you thought the performance in the preseason opener against the Commanders was bad, it was twice as bad — if not more — against the Giants. The Dolphins fielded an offensive unit without Willis and second-year backup Quinn Ewers and went with Cam Miller to start the game and Mark Gronowski, who was recently brought back on the roster after being cut due to Ewers’ injury.

With two quarterbacks who have zero NFL experience leading the way, Miami racked up a total of 102 yards for an average of 2.8 yards per play.

Miller went 6-of-11 for 60 yards with a 70.3 passer rating while Gronowski was just 2-of-5 for 1 yard and a 47.9 passer rating.

If there was any bright spot from the game, it’s that the Dolphins quarterbacks at least didn’t turn the ball over, which was a major issue against the Commanders. Miller threw two interceptions last week, while Ewers threw an interception while going 1-for-8 for 27 yards.

Miami is obviously committed to this rebuild and is all-in with this young roster. That much is clear. However, it doesn’t detract from the rebuild by at least signing or attempting to acquire a veteran quarterback before the 2026 season starts.

There will be no shortage of potential veteran backups on the market. Jimmy Garoppolo — who has started a Super Bowl and has 64 games of starting experience under his belt — is available on the free agency market.

Meanwhile, there will be veteran quarterbacks available who are either cut or traded when 53-man rosters are settled. For example, the Dolphins have already been linked to Pittsburgh Steelers veterans Mason Rudolph and Will Howard. The Steelers will obviously enter the season with Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback and Drew Allar as a backup. The winner of the Rudolph/Howard competition will get the other spot, which means the Steelers have a logjam at the quarterback position, with one QB on the way out.

To make things very clear, neither of these quarterbacks will be a threat to Willis. Willis is entering the season as the starting quarterback and, barring a disastrous performance, he’ll end the 2026 season as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback.

With that being said, Miami can’t risk going with a shaky Ewers or quarterbacks with no experience in Miller and Gronkowski if Willis is to get dinged up. Ewers is playing under a completely new regime under first-year head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan.

To top it all off, the Dolphins’ lack of talent has been on great display over the first two seasons, with their leading receivers being Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert, Caleb Douglas and Tutu Atwell. The top receiver of that bunch, Washington, produced just 46 catches for 317 yards and three touchdowns.

The Dolphins haven’t hid the fact that they’re in a rebuild with an extremely young core — they have the youngest roster at 25.2 years old — as they enter their first season under the Hafley/Sullivan regime.

“This team is going to struggle throughout the course of this year,” said Dolphins great and TV analyst Kim Bokamper following the game. “By the end of this season there’s going to be a lot of these guys that aren’t going to be back. But the guys who do stay here will be indoctrinated, will play the way Jeff Hafley wants, will be disciplined and play tough football.”

The Dolphins need to at least have a field general who can run the offense properly and keep Miami competitive in games. Featuring an incompetent team that gets blown out over the course of the 2026 season will just push the remaining veterans out the door, while doing little to convince the talented youngsters to want to return for the 2027 season. The Dolphins have over 40 players on one-year or league-minimum deals for this season.

The Dolphins have one more preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons before they start out a tough regular season schedule. Eleven of their 17 games will be against teams with winning records from last season.

Acquiring a veteran quarterback as an insurance policy is something that is of the utmost importance before the 2026 season starts.