The bye week hasn’t softened the edge around this Dolphins season. Miami is sitting at 0-5 and finally catching its breath after the lone off-weekend on the schedule, but the fanbase is still very much in evaluation mode as the rebuild takes shape from the top down. This was never supposed to be a smooth year in South Florida, with the franchise overhauling everything from the president to the front office, the coaching staff and the roster.
Even with the losses piling up, Dolphins fans had been leaning into the bigger picture. That belief took a hit this week.
In the weekly SB Nation Reacts fan confidence survey, 71 percent of fans said they think Miami is headed in the right direction. That’s still a strong number, but it’s a clear drop from the 87 percent who answered that way in Week 5, which had been a season high.
The slide came after a stretch in which the team had been showing week-to-week growth, only for that momentum to stall between Weeks 5 and 6.
The numbers tell the story across the season. Miami opened at 80 percent in the preseason, dipped to 79 percent in Week 1, fell to 63 percent in Week 2, ticked up to 65 percent in Week 3, jumped to 79 percent in Week 4 and then peaked at 87 percent in Week 5 before landing at 71 percent this week.
The next checkpoint comes after the bye, and then again after Miami’s Week 7 game against the New York Jets. For now, the question is whether fan confidence stabilizes or keeps sliding.
The same frustration shows up when it comes to quarterback Malik Willis. After signing as a free agent in the offseason, Willis was put under the microscope with a quarter of the season now in the books. Since the NFL’s regular season is 18 weeks with 17 games, the Dolphins’ first five games line up neatly with a first-quarter review, and the survey results were not kind.
No one handed Willis an “A” grade. In fact, half the fanbase, 50.4 percent, gave him a “D” for his first five games.
Another 22 percent went even lower, saying he has failed so far. That leaves a pretty stark read on where fans stand: they are not happy with the quarterback’s start.
Head coach Jeff Hafley has said he is not considering a change at quarterback, but Willis needs to turn things around fast if fans are going to see him as more than a one-year rental for the rebuild.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook odds, Miami is still expected to finish with 4.5 wins this season, with the under listed at -750.
In Other News...
Malik Willis Keeps Ignoring One Dolphins Fix They Clearly Need
Through five games of the 2026 season, Malik Willis has given the Dolphins enough to work with at quarterback, but his decision-making has also left a clear opening in the offense. One of the easiest ways to clean that up should be right in front of him. Miamis tight ends have been involved in the game plan, and Greg Dulcich and Will Kacmarek have both helped the unit in different ways, yet the passing game has not leaned on that group nearly enough.
That matters because the Dolphins have a position room that can help open things up if Willis and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik are willing to use it more consistently. Dulcich has flashed as a receiver, while Kacmarek has mostly been asked to do the dirty work, and the balance there suggests Miami has more room to grow on offense than it has shown so far. The question is whether Willis will start trusting the middle of the field more often, or keep leaving one of the teams clearest fixes on the table. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Ownership Just Got More Crowded Than Many Fans Realize
Stephen Ross has continued to widen the circle around the Dolphins, recently agreeing to sell a small minority stake in the franchise to Jean Eric Salata, pending approval. It is the latest sign that Miamis ownership structure has become a little more layered over time, with Ross bringing in outside capital while still holding the principal role that has defined the teams modern era.
Salata would join a long list of recognizable investors who already have ties to the Dolphins, a group that has included Ares Management, Lin Bin, Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Serena and Venus Williams, Marc Anthony, and Fergie. For fans, the takeaway is less about boardroom mechanics than the breadth of names attached to the franchise now, and how much more crowded that ownership picture has become. [Read more 🡒]
Malik Willis Pushes Back On What Dolphins Fans Saw Sunday
Before Miamis Week 5 matchup, Bengals safety Jordan Battle pointed to something he thought he saw from Malik Willis, suggesting the quarterback was tapping the ball before he threw it and that the habit helped lead to two interceptions. It was the kind of pregame remark that can stick with a player, especially when it sounds like a clean explanation for a turnover-heavy day.
Willis pushed back on that version of events, saying the interceptions came down to tipped passes and a scramble-drill mistake rather than any tell in his delivery. For Dolphins fans who had already noticed the playmaking swings around those turnovers, the dispute adds another layer to the debate over what really happened and whether the issue was habit, execution, or just a couple of bad breaks. [Read more 🡒]