The Miami Dolphins have made the offseason losers list for a major reason.
There is no denying that the Miami Dolphins might have some rough times ahead. The roster has been patchworked with low-cost veterans who have not quite had a superstar impact on the NFL.
On top of that, there has been a complete restructure of the coaching staff and front office, which can also lead to growing pains. However, it is the roster that has led to the Dolphins being one of the offseason losers, per The Athletic's Mike Jones.
"Ross now wants Miami to resemble Green Bay South, hiring former Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as general manager, adding defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as coach, and signing former Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis to be the Dolphins’ starter. Willis has potential, but he remains a project. He will have to play behind an offensive line in the midst of an overhaul and throw to a wide receiver corps that lost both Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill this offseason," Jones said.
Jones alluded to Stephen Ross hitting the reset button, which led to both general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel being fired. Additionally, the over $99 million dead cap hit from the release of Tua Tagovailoa put the Dolphins in its current position.
General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan worked his magic, releasing Tagovailoa, Bradley Chubb, and Tyreek Hill while trading Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jaylen Waddle, placing the team at a current $12 million in available cap, per overthecap.com.
Miami could theoretically find some more free agent help if that is needed. That could be the case, due to what Jones brought up regarding the wide receivers.
With Waddle and Hill gone, the roster features Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert as the main pass catchers, but neither has flourished in the NFL in terms of a WR1 perspective.
There are some holdovers as well, such as Malik Washington, who has developed some strong chemistry with Malik Willis, but the construction of the wide receiver room will not be truly shown until the pads come on during training camp.
Willis is also a "project" per Jones, which is not necessarily far off from the truth. The former Green Bay Packers signal caller has only had six starts in his career thus far.
The Dolphins gave Willis a three-year, $62.5 million deal in hopes that he can be the kind of quarterback that he showed during his relief of the injured Jordan Love in 2025.
Regardless, Willis is a big risk, and one that can either go really well for the organization or really badly. The last thing the Dolphins need is to have a high draft pick in 2027 and have to restart with another player under center.
With many unknowns and questions to be answered, Miami cannot shake off these narratives until they put some wins together.
