MIAMI GARDENS ― In an ideal world, Malik Willis is the Miami Dolphins quarterback in 2026 and 2027 and they are not using a first-round pick on a quarterback in the next NFL Draft.
This is not tracking in that direction.
It's early, as our hurricane forecasters might say, but the cone of uncertainty is pretty darn wide.
The Dolphins have themselves a quarterback problem.
It's only five games. It's only five games. It's only five games.
And an 0-5 start is not at all unexpected.
But this Malik Willis deal isn't working out anywhere close to what Miami hoped.
Willis is last among 28 qualified quarterbacks with a passer rating of 68.4.
Take a look at this: 2 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 4 fumbles, 14 sacks.
Malik Willis news: It's pretty much all bad
Ugly. Unacceptable. Unsustainable.
"He made some splash plays with his feet, and, you know, we're going to need, I would say this, we're going to need more consistency in our pass game in general with all 11 players to be better in order for us to take the next step," Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said of Willis and the offense after a 31-24 loss to the Bengals.
The final score is misleading.
Willis completed a late touchdown pass to Kevin Coleman (the target of both interceptions) and ran in a short one after another nice completion to Coleman.
Willis is a tantalizing roller coaster ride.
He is an incredible athlete, capable of exploding for a 39-yard run at the start of the fourth quarter on third-and-13.
But Willis has also fumbled four times in his first five Miami games.
"He's got to have the awareness to protect the ball as well," Hafley said. "We'll take a hard look at fixing that because we're not going to win games if we're fumbling the ball like that."
Willis has a cannon of a right arm and is constantly looking to stretch the field.
But he needs to take shorter, safter checkdowns when available.
And he needs to stop taking sacks in the red zone. Throw it away.
"If we're going to mess up, let's not make it disastrous," Willis said.
Exactly. Well put. Too often through five games it has been disatrous.
It is certainly possible that rookies like Chris Bell, Kevin Coleman, Caleb Douglas, Will Kacmarek, Kadyn Proctor and DJ Herman have made some mistakes that have helped make Willis look bad.
But this cannot all be on the rookies. Willis. Must. Lift. His. Teammates.
Willis must make things right when everything seems to be going wrong.
Do Dolphins need to look at NFL Draft for another QB?
It is somewhat encouraging that training 28-10, Willis at least helped lead two touchdown drives late in the game. But overall Miami's offense has been anemic in the first third-or-so of the season.
"We've got to figure out a way to get guys on the same page," Willis said.
Yes. Willis does. We do not doubt that Willis is trying.
Perhaps the Dolphins will benefit from a Week 6 bye. And perhaps they will benefit from facing some more reasonably-beatable opponents after a brutal schedule start to this season.
At one point in the third quarter, the Dolphins had a first-and-goal at the Bengals 1-yard line.
Ollie Gordon was stopped for a loss of 2. Willis rolled right and took a sack for a loss of 8.
"Bad play by me," Willis said.
After an incompletion, it was a field goal attempt and some loud boos. Deservedly so.
Miami fans want desperately to believe that Willis, signed this offseason, to a 3-year, $67.5 million contract (it's really two years guaranteed) can be their franchise savior.
So far, it's looked like anything but.
At the moment, it looks like Miami will need to spend plenty of time evaluating quarterbacks projected to be available in the next NFL draft.
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Joe Schad is a journalist covering the Miami Dolphins and the NFL at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jschad@pbpost.com and follow him on Threads and Instagram and X at @schadjoe. Sign up for Joe's free weekly Dolphins Pulse Newsletter. Help support our work by subscribing today
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami's Malik Willis deal isn't paying off yet. The numbers prove it.