Jeff Hafley didn’t sign up for a quick fix in Miami, and Sunday’s 35-13 loss to the 49ers made that plain.
The Dolphins got hammered in San Francisco, and the result was a brutal reminder of how much work still sits in front of this roster. But buried inside the wreckage is the one lesson Miami has to hold onto: a slow start doesn’t have to be the final word.
That’s the same road Kyle Shanahan once walked in San Francisco.
When Shanahan arrived for the 2017 season, the 49ers were a mess. They had just gone through back-to-back one-and-done stints under Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly, and the Colin Kaepernick controversy was still hanging over everything. Shanahan inherited a two-win team and nudged it to six wins in his first year, then slipped to 4-12 in 2018.
The real jump came after that. San Francisco traded for Jimmy Garoppolo late in that second season, and Garoppolo played well enough to help push the Niners to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl berth in Shanahan’s third year in the Bay Area.
That timeline matters for Miami because Hafley and GM Jon-Eric Sullivan tore down the roster this offseason, and that kind of reset usually takes time to pay off. Year 3 is the one that starts to matter.
For now, the Dolphins are still trying to figure out what they have at quarterback. Malik Willis may already be the cost-effective answer, but it’s hard to know with how thin the support around him has been. It’s only two games in, and if the coach, GM and quarterback are all right, that changes everything.
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco put it bluntly: “The Miami Dolphins are not very good.” He also said he seems to believe Willis won’t be the future at quarterback.
"[The 49ers] had a bye week this week. The Miami Dolphins are not very good." 👀 @PriscoCBS #NFLPostgame pic.twitter.com/yE4vmleqfp
- NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 20, 2026
If Willis doesn’t end up being the answer, Miami should be in position to take a swing in what’s expected to be a loaded 2027 draft class. The ideal scenario, at least in theory, is finding another quarterback and pairing him with Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith as a true WR1 for Willis.
The financial picture is just as encouraging. The Dolphins are projected to have $96.8 million in cap space in 2027 and $195.3 million in 2028, giving them room to add young talent, chase established stars, or do both. Florida’s no income tax and Miami’s appeal only widen the list of possible targets.
None of that changes the pain of a 35-13 beatdown. But it does explain why this kind of season may be part of the plan rather than a detour from it. If Hafley and Sullivan can keep building the right culture while the losses pile up, Miami’s rebound could come faster than it looks right now.
And if the 49ers’ rise under Shanahan proved anything, it’s that a team can go from a wreck to a contender on that kind of timeline. The Dolphins just got a painful look at the finish line they’re trying to reach.
In Other News...
Dolphins Cornerback Trouble Could Force A Desperation Move
Miamis cornerback room has become one of the more uncomfortable roster questions hanging over the early part of the season, and it is pushing the Dolphins to consider options they probably did not expect to be discussing this soon. One name that has surfaced is Trevon Diggs, who is currently on the Seahawks practice squad after a career that has included real playmaking ability but also enough inconsistency to make any team think twice before leaning on him too heavily.
The appeal is obvious for a defense looking for help, especially with Jeff Hafleys system rewarding corners who can hold up in space and play with confidence. Still, Diggs is not a clean solution, and even Seattle general manager John Schneider has pointed to his late arrival and the work it has taken to get him up to speed. For Miami, the question is whether the upside is worth the gamble, or whether this is simply the kind of desperation conversation teams have when the depth chart starts to fray. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Juszczyk Is Now Arguing Over What Dolphins Celebration Meant
Kyle Juszczyk is still bristling over a pair of fines he says came from a celebration the NFL misread after the 49ers Week 2 game against the Dolphins. The league tagged him twice for unsportsmanlike conduct, billing each infraction at $14,926, and the fullback has pushed back on the idea that his gestures crossed the line.
Juszczyks explanation has turned the episode into more than a standard postgame penalty dispute, with the veteran insisting the message was about juice rather than beer. He has left open the possibility of appealing, which keeps a small but oddly specific sideline controversy attached to a game Miami has already moved past. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Home Opener Puts Miamis Progress To A Harsh Test
The Dolphins home opener at Hard Rock Stadium arrives with a familiar kind of pressure, the sort that tells you almost everything you need to know about where a team stands early in the season. Miami enters the game as a young group still trying to prove it belongs in the leagues upper tier, while the Kansas City Chiefs bring the kind of championship standard that tends to expose every weakness in a hurry.
National predictions have leaned heavily toward Kansas City, with many analysts expecting the Chiefs to handle Miami in decisive fashion. For the Dolphins, the matchup is less about the forecast and more about whether they can show real progress against one of the NFLs best teams, even if the result is still likely to leave them with more questions than answers. [Read more 🡒]