Omar Kelly: Dolphins are going to need more from Malik Willis

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Sep 29, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Plenty of this week’s focus will be placed on who fills De’Von Achane’s massive shoes, picking up the slack created by the Miami Dolphins losing its Pro Bowler tailback to a season-ending ACL injury.

I would recommend the Dolphins focus — at least offensively — be placed on getting more out of quarterback Malik Willis, whose underwhelming performance in the team’s first three games needs to be discussed.

Heading into Sunday’s Week 4 game against a blitz-crazy Minnesota Vikings defense, Willis has a dismal 74.1 passer rating based on his performance at this early portion of the season.

Willis is completing 57% of his passes (ranked 31st), averaging 209 passing yards per game (9 below the league average) with one touchdown pass thrown and two interceptions. He has also contributed 33.6 rushing yards per game.

He’s ranked the NFL’s 32nd-ranked quarterback so far this season in passer rating, with Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield sitting one spot ahead of him with an 80 passer rating, and Los Angeles’ Justin Herbert below him with a 73.4 passer rating.

New England’s Drake Maye, who is struggling badly a year after being in the MVP conversion, new Giants fill-in starter Jameis Winston and Minnesota’s Kyler Murray, who just came back from a Week 1 concussion, are the only starting quarterbacks with a worse passer rating.

That’s not the company a quarterback who got the biggest free agent deal of the offseason should be keeping.

While Willis’ offensive line needs improvement (nine sacks in the first two games isn’t good enough), the run game needs to find a new bell cow with Achane done for the year, and he would benefit from more experienced, and healthy receivers, let’s not deny that the Dolphins are not getting the quarterback they’re paying $22.5 million a season for.

As exciting as Willis’ scrambles have been, his execution of Miami’s offense, which ranked 26th in the NFL, is one of the many factors holding the 2026 team back.

In fairness to Willis, Sunday’s 24-10 loss to Kansas City was his ninth NFL start.

He’s learning how to be an NFL starter, which means understanding when to scramble, when to check the ball down and when to throw it away.

He’s still developing chemistry with his inexperienced cast of receivers and tight ends.

But a 74.1 passer rating isn’t going to cut it. Hell, anything below a 90 passer rating won’t do, no matter the circumstances of the season.

“Malik is getting better, and he’s going to improve,” coach Jeff Hafley said after a disappointing 60.1 passer-rated game. “I think sometimes we forget this is his first year of being a starting quarterback.”

My biggest concern about this season was that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to properly evaluate the quarterback position because of this team’s numerous shortcomings, which is understandable due to the scorched-earth rebuild the Dolphins began last offseason.

But Willis shouldn’t be getting outperformed by Geno Smith, who has a career-high 110.0 passer rating, and has led the New York Jets to a 1-2 record.

In fairness to Willis, Smith made his 101st NFL start last Sunday.

Kirk Cousins shouldn’t be running circles around Willis with a Las Vegas Raiders team that has comparable talent to Miami. But a 107.2 passer rating should be expected from a 15th-year veteran starting his 170th game.

But Miami chose Willis’ youth over the experience of Smith and Cousins, we need to see the upside.

Everything about this 2026 team is playing at or around my expectation level but the quarterback position, and that’s a problem considering we need a verdict on Willis by the end of the season because of the predicament the Dolphins will likely be in at the conclusion of this season, likely sitting atop the 2027 NFL draft.

Being bad will likely put this franchise in position to select a quarterback early, and no matter how Willis plays Miami should take one early because it’s doubtful he will establish himself as one of the NFL’s elites.

The one common thread the Dolphins have had as a franchise in the post-Dan Marino era is the fact everyone associated with this organization has been terrified of quarterbacks competing.

This franchise hasn’t had a quarterback compete for the starting job since the 2012 season, and that weak-minded mentality has held this football team back.

If Willis is the future of this franchise he needs to earn it, prove it and show it. Right now that’s not happening, and the stakes have just been raised now that Achane is gone.

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