The Miami Dolphins spent the weekend turning over the quarterback room behind Malik Willis, and by Sunday afternoon the shape of it was clear: Quinn Ewers is gone, Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski are out, and Kyle McCord is in line to become the new No. 2.
Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported the McCord move, saying the Packers were sending the second-year quarterback to Miami for a 2028 sixth-round pick. That pick, Schefter later noted, was the same one the Dolphins had just gotten from Jacksonville in the Ewers deal.
Miami’s reshuffling started Saturday, when the team traded Ewers to the Jaguars. Jacksonville sent back a 2028 sixth-round pick for the 2025 seventh-rounder, according to ESPN and NFL.com. Ian Rapoport also posted that the Jaguars were acquiring Ewers.
Ewers’ brief Miami run had already taken a hit in camp. He started the final three games of 2025 after Tua Tagovailoa was benched, going 1-2 across four appearances while completing 66.3 percent of his passes for 622 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, per ESPN.
But a groin injury in the Aug. 14 preseason opener against Washington slowed him down badly. He went 1-of-8 for 27 yards and an interception in that game and then missed the next two exhibitions.
That opened the door for the front office and coaching staff to move on. New general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley are building around Willis, whom Miami signed in March to a three-year, $67.5 million contract with $45 million guaranteed, according to the Associated Press. Keeping a backup who couldn’t stay on the field no longer made sense.
Sunday brought the rest of the cleanup. Schefter reported that Miami was waiving Miller, which created the immediate opening at backup quarterback. Miller, a 2025 sixth-round pick by Las Vegas whom Miami signed off the Raiders’ practice squad in January, completed 42.1 percent of his preseason passes for 170 yards and two interceptions, according to Dolphins Wire.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo then reported that the Dolphins were also waiving undrafted rookie Mark Gronowski, with a plan to bring him back on the practice squad if he clears waivers. Gronowski, who played at South Dakota State and Iowa, completed 46.2 percent of his preseason throws for 98 yards, per Dolphins Wire.
By then, the replacement was already lined up.
McCord has never thrown a regular-season pass, but Miami liked what it saw in the preseason. Drafted by the Eagles in the sixth round in 2025, he spent that season on Philadelphia’s practice squad before signing a futures deal with Green Bay in January. In three preseason games this summer, he completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 446 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions and a 102.4 rating, according to ESPN and the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
There’s also a familiar face waiting for him in Miami. Garafolo reported that McCord will reunite with Dolphins pass game coordinator Kevin Patullo, who served as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator last season when McCord was with the Eagles.
The connection runs a little deeper than that, too. The Sun Sentinel reported this was the first trade between Sullivan and Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst.
For now, the move appears to close the door on the veteran option some outside the building may have expected. Jimmy Garoppolo remains unsigned after two seasons backing up Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported in July that Garoppolo was open to playing in 2026 “in the right situation,” but that a deal was not close and might only happen if a starting-caliber injury opened the door elsewhere, according to NBC Sports. His last regular-season start came in Week 18 of 2024, when he went 27-of-41 for 334 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 25-30 loss to Seattle, per Pro-Football-Reference.
Hafley and Garoppolo do have shared history from San Francisco, where Hafley coached 49ers defensive backs from 2016 through 2018 and Garoppolo arrived in a late-October 2017 trade. But Miami did not go that route Sunday. Instead, it chose a 23-year-old who just flashed in the preseason over a 34-year-old veteran who has not started since January 2025.
Hafley had already hinted the Dolphins were leaning toward keeping only two quarterbacks on the initial 53-man roster. Speaking Saturday, a day after Miami finished the preseason 0-3 against Atlanta at Hard Rock Stadium, he said the club was “likely” to keep two quarterbacks, according to the Palm Beach Post. By Sunday, those two appeared to be Willis and McCord.
That leaves the Dolphins with a quarterback room that looks very different from the one that opened camp. Ewers is in Jacksonville.
Miller and Gronowski are on waivers. McCord is headed to Miami pending the physical and the 6 p.m. filing deadline on Sunday, Aug.
- The Dolphins open at Las Vegas on Sept. 13, and if Willis misses time, Miami will be asking a quarterback who learned the Eagles’ system last year to jump into Bobby Slowik’s offense on the fly.
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